Moelis & Company (MC) Stock Price & How to Invest

Moelis & Company is a global independent investment bank founded in 2007 by Ken Moelis. It advises corporations, governments, and financial sponsors on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and liability management, private capital raising, and other strategic matters. Unlike bulge-bracket banks, Moelis takes no principal trading or lending risk, so essentially all of its revenue comes from advisory fees earned when transactions close. The firm competes at the large-cap end of the market against other elite independents while also running a well-regarded restructuring practice that tends to stay busy when deal-making cools.

The investment picture is cyclical and people-driven. Revenue swings with the pace of M&A and restructuring activity, and results can be lumpy quarter to quarter because fees are tied to closings. Moelis returns a large share of earnings to shareholders through a dividend and has been investing in senior banker hires to expand coverage. For 2026, management points to a near record backlog of announced transactions and a constructive M&A outlook, balanced against risks from geopolitical uncertainty and disruption in private credit markets that can slow closings.

Advisory revenue is highly cyclical and tied to the pace of deal closings, so a slowdown in M&A or capital markets can compress results quickly. Compensation is the largest expense and rising banker pay can squeeze margins even when revenue grows. Geopolitical uncertainty and disruption in private credit markets can delay transactions, and the business depends heavily on retaining a relatively small group of senior rainmakers. Early 2026 results showed record quarterly revenue but adjusted earnings per share came in below analyst expectations, underscoring the sensitivity to costs and timing.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Moelis & Company's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$1.55B
• Q1 2026 revenue: ~$320M (+4% YoY)
• Q1 2026 adjusted EPS: ~$0.50
• Market cap: ~$5.7B
• P/E (trailing): ~26x
• Dividend yield: ~3.6% ($0.65/quarter)

Moelis trades around $70 per share, within a 52-week range of roughly $51 to $78. Full-year 2025 adjusted revenue rose about 28% to $1.54 billion with adjusted EPS near $2.99, and the trailing multiple reflects a recovering deal cycle. The valuation embeds expectations for continued M&A and restructuring activity, so results can move sharply with the deal environment.

There are three common ways to get MC exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so MC sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where MC fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

Owning MC is a bet that the M&A and restructuring advisory cycle stays constructive, with a healthy dividend as the ballast between deal-flow swings.

Whether MC is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is MC a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the MC stock forecast.

For income investors, whether MC pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does MC pay a dividend?