Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stake Lowered by Pier Capital LLC

Pier Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,248 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC owned about 0.14% of Moelis & Company worth $7,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $601,924,000 after buying an additional 99,766 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,119,000 after purchasing an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,810,000 after purchasing an additional 53,473 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MC. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.56. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

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.