Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 875,868 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 20,367 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 1.17% of Moelis & Company worth $64,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $69,119,000 after buying an additional 12,632 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $55,141,000 after buying an additional 96,720 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $56,810,000 after purchasing an additional 53,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 439,778 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $32,491,000 after purchasing an additional 5,062 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company's stock, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 209,235 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.83.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE MC traded down $1.52 on Thursday, hitting $58.57. 1,609,204 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 877,594. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.49 and a 200 day moving average of $71.87. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.28 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

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.