Madison Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,164,887 Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,164,887 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $86,062,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC owned 1.55% of Moelis & Company at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MC. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $60.19. The stock had a trading volume of 644,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 608,999. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.20 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.78. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89.

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Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $478,854. This trade represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.83.

Moelis & Company 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.