Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires New Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 715,472 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $49,017,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.96% of Moelis & Company as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MC. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Moelis & Company by 63.5% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 147.9% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 657 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Moelis & Company by 510.2% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 836 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the third 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. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $365,561.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86 shares in the company, valued at $5,922.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $365,561.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86 shares in the company, valued at $5,922.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total transaction of $34,298.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $649,385.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.83.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE MC traded down $1.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,228,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,944. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $39.08 and a one year high of $72.80. The company has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 442.20 and a beta of 1.33. The company's fifty day moving average is $67.51 and its 200-day moving average is $60.62.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. The business had revenue of $273.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.15) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,600.00%.

Moelis & Company Profile

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.