Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

MC has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $81.24 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 153.29 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.67.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 452.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $554,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 110.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

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.