Moelis & Company’s (MC) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their outperform rating on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $92.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $86.00.

MC has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $81.24 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.29 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.67. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Trust Point Inc. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 18,976 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.