Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires Shares of 19,500 Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 19,500 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,441,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $633,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,166 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth $1,290,000. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the third quarter valued at $202,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during 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 during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,854. This represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 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 $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 ninety days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.1 %

MC stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,040,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,253. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.02. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $47.00 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 1.53.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 119.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.83.

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.