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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $54.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $58.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.30% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.40.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Moelis & Company stock traded down $4.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $49.86. The company had a trading volume of 533,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,787. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.81 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.51. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $33.87 and a 12-month high of $58.67.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $217.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.30 million. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 2.89% and a negative return on equity of 3.82%. The business’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 7,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total transaction of $404,231.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $315,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total transaction of $55,733.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 7,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total transaction of $404,231.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 375,185 shares of company stock valued at $20,130,225 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 147.9% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 657 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $99,000. 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.