Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 377,028 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $27,855,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.50% of Moelis & Company at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 47.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.3 %

MC stock traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $59.39. 1,088,976 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 610,801. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 33.74 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at $291,116. This represents 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 available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company'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 of the company's stock, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two equities research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.83.

Moelis & 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.