The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $75.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $86.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE MC opened at $59.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.78.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

Moelis & Co operates as a holding company. It engages in the provision of financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a client base including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. The firm focuses on clients including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments.