Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 651,190 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 40,640 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.87% of Moelis & Company worth $48,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $130,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 24.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,068 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Moelis & Company news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

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Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC traded down $0.61 on Friday, hitting $61.86. 659,919 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 816,355. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 1.43. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $74.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.00.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. Equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.83.

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.