Morgan Stanley Lowers Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $42.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $42.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 16.17% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.17.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MC traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $50.10. 607,713 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 707,205. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.07. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49 and a beta of 1.53.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 in the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $601,924,000 after acquiring an additional 99,766 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after buying an additional 10,698 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,119,000 after acquiring an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,546,000 after acquiring an additional 36,736 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.