Legal & General Group Plc Has $14.50 Million Stock Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 196,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,364 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.26% of Moelis & Company worth $14,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $601,924,000 after purchasing an additional 99,766 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after buying an additional 10,698 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 12,632 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 53,473 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $52.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.90. 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 cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 1.53.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released 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 return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were 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 4.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two equities research 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.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.