StockNews.com Upgrades Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $75.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.13. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.05 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. Equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MC. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $86,062,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $49,017,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,610,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,855,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 252.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,310,000 after buying an additional 158,200 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.