Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $86.06 Million Investment in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,164,887 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $86,062,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 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 transaction of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. This trade represents a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $60.17 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.19 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) 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 anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

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.