Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MC. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.50.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $50.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.83 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.79 and its 200-day moving average is $70.26. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.12%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 over the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.