UBS Group Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $59.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $74.00 to $59.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.44.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.7%

Moelis & Company stock opened at $51.73 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $78.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.27. The company has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.90.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The company had revenue of $487.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $430.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 88.44%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $172,065.95. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $60,857,000. Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the second quarter valued at $46,762,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,231,000 after buying an additional 609,162 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Moelis & Company by 16.1% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $235,654,000 after buying an additional 458,575 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.