Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the asset manager on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th.

Moelis & Company has raised its dividend by an average of 19.6% per year over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 100.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $2.68 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 89.6%.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $66.98 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $38.58 and a 52-week high of $72.80. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -352.53 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.62.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 4.38% and a net margin of 1.38%. The firm had revenue of $264.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.90 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 47.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $365,561.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,922.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $365,561.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 86 shares in the company, valued at $5,922.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total value of $34,298.55. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,385.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.83.

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.