EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Grows Stock Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 172.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,599 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 45,945 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. owned 0.10% of Moelis & Company worth $5,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $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 valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.83.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other 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 transaction of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business'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 $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock traded down $2.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $57.61. 252,977 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 692,386. The business's fifty day moving average is $70.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 147.73%.

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.