Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $77.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $77.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.67.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $72.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.83. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $81.60. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of 137.34 and a beta of 1.39.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The company had revenue of $273.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.58 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.15) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 452.83%.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,017,000. Pier Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $8,152,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,970,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,141,000 after acquiring an additional 96,720 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 322.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 98,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,714,000 after acquiring an additional 74,800 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.