Wasatch Advisors LP Cuts Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Wasatch Advisors LP lessened its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,632,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 215,537 shares during the quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $194,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.4 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $52.34 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.12 and a 200-day moving average of $69.90.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.50.

Moelis & 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.