NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Independent investment bank Greenhill & Co. Inc. was downgraded to "underperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse on Monday. The firm said it reduced its rating on Greenhill based on its belief the company's organic growth is being constrained by its dividend. "We believe Greenhill falls short on several criteria that we think will drive differentiated growth over the next few years, including exposure to Europe and the energy sector," Credit Suisse said. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks for 2015 STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more. Credit Suisse lowered its price target on Greenhill to $34 from $45. Shares of Greenhill closed at $36.88 on Friday afternoon. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates GREENHILL & CO INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate GREENHILL & CO INC (GHL) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. Among the primary strengths of the company is its revenue growth. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income and poor profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 10.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.4%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. GREENHILL & CO INC' earnings per share from the most recent quarter came in slightly below the year earlier quarter. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past year. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GREENHILL & CO INC reported lower earnings of $1.45 versus $1.56 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.00 versus $1.45). The gross profit margin for GREENHILL & CO INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.60%. Regardless of GHL's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 19.86% trails the industry average. The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Capital Markets industry average. The net income has decreased by 3.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $15.78 million to $15.22 million. Looking at the price performance of GHL's shares over the past 12 months, there is not much good news to report: the stock is down 27.84%, and it has underformed the S&P 500 Index. In addition, the company's earnings per share are lower today than the year-earlier quarter. Although its share price is down sharply from a year ago, do not assume that it can now be tagged as cheap and attractive. The reality is that, based on its current price in relation to its earnings, GHL is still more expensive than most of the other companies in its industry. You can view the full analysis from the report here: GHL Ratings Report STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.
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