Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stake Raised by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 344,467 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 11,097 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.46% of Moelis & Company worth $25,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter valued at about $130,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $70.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 512,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,439. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $75.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.87. The company has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.73%.

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.