Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases New Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,613 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $489,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,810,000 after acquiring an additional 53,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 439,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,491,000 after acquiring an additional 5,062 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $60.93 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

About Moelis & Company

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.