Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) CEO Sells $718,688.00 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of MC opened at $71.37 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.74.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 30.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $49,017,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

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.