Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Position in Moelis & Company $MC

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,732,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 117,172 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.12% of Moelis & Company worth $622,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,762,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,231,000 after purchasing an additional 609,162 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,248,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,052,862 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $127,947,000 after buying an additional 424,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 91.2% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 793,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,600,000 after buying an additional 378,636 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MC has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.33.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $172,065.95. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 3.8%

Moelis & Company stock opened at $60.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.66. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $78.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 43.19% and a net margin of 15.36%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.44%.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.