Salvus Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Salvus Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 24.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,811 shares during the quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $601,924,000 after buying an additional 99,766 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,119,000 after purchasing an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Moelis & Company by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,546,000 after purchasing an additional 36,736 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 215.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,444,000 after purchasing an additional 494,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $56.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $54.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.29. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company had revenue of $306.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 119.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MC shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.83.

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.