Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Plans $0.60 Quarterly Dividend

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Moelis & Company has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.6% per year over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 92.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $2.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.8%.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 6.9 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $50.26 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.50. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $33.87 and a 12 month high of $58.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -264.53 and a beta of 1.35.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $217.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.30 million. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a negative return on equity of 0.13%. Moelis & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, CFO Joseph Simon sold 8,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction of $464,056.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moelis & Company news, Vice Chairman Eric Cantor sold 17,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total transaction of $939,278.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 195,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,302,393.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joseph Simon sold 8,573 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction of $464,056.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 375,185 shares of company stock valued at $20,130,225 over the last quarter. 6.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.