UBS Group Trims Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Target Price to $45.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target trimmed by UBS Group from $46.00 to $45.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sell rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a sell rating to a neutral rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a market perform rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $50.80.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $56.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -157.69 and a beta of 1.35. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $33.87 and a 1-year high of $58.67.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $214.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.98 million. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 2.89% and a negative return on equity of 3.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -666.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Eric Cantor sold 17,857 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 value of $939,278.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 195,863 shares in the company, valued at $10,302,393.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total value of $55,733.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Eric Cantor sold 17,857 shares of the company’s 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 $939,278.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 195,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,302,393.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 380.1% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,378 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 230.3% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. 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.