Paloma Partners Management Co Takes Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,258 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 63.5% in 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth about $75,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MC opened at $75.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.90. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $81.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.98 and a beta of 1.37.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. The firm had revenue of $273.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.58 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.15) earnings per share. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 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.