Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Sells $260,110.00 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock traded down $1.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $68.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,397,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 795,446. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's 50 day moving average is $75.62 and its 200 day moving average is $71.81. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $25,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 30.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $49,017,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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 shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.83.

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.