Trexquant Investment LP Takes Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 62,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,616,000. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.08% of Moelis & Company as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $601,924,000 after acquiring an additional 99,766 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 0.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,119,000 after buying an additional 12,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 53,473 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MC. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of MC stock opened at $50.46 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.06.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

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.