Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $60.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous target price of $54.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $56.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:MC opened at $68.08 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.58 and a fifty-two week high of $68.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.38.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $264.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.90 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up 47.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,263.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total transaction of $2,159,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,290,965.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 147.9% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 657 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 510.2% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 836 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.