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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th.

Moelis & Company has raised its dividend by an average of 19.6% annually over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a payout ratio of 100.8% meaning 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 Down 1.9 %

MC stock traded down $1.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $66.96. The company had a trading volume of 837,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,035. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -353.42 and a beta of 1.33. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $38.58 and a 12 month high of $72.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.58.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $264.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.90 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MC. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.