Kenneth Moelis Sells 9,712 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value 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 $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $71.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $75.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,433,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,141,000 after buying an additional 96,720 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 129.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,229,000 after buying an additional 16,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.