Quantbot Technologies LP Buys 16,563 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 262.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,563 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $2,784,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the fourth 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 period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 129.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $412,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 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 $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.35 and its 200 day moving average is $71.56.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. 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%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

About Moelis & Company

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.