Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded down $1.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $58.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,609,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 877,594. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $73.18 and a 200-day moving average of $71.78. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.28 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,854. This trade represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,062,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,610,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,444,000 after acquiring an additional 494,123 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,720,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moelis & Company

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.