Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 333,370 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 16,322 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.45% of Moelis & Company worth $22,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 63.5% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 115.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at about $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE MC traded up $0.50 on Thursday, reaching $75.86. 191,260 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 636,344. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.02 and a fifty-two week high of $81.60. The firm has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.08 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.50.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $273.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $273.58 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

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 given 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 3.16%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is presently 452.83%.

About Moelis & Company

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.