Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 99,766 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 99,766 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.87% of Moelis & Company worth $601,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.83.

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Moelis & Company Stock Down 4.7 %

MC stock traded down $2.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,489,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 707,459. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $67.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.06. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $478,854. This represents a 46.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.