Invesco Ltd. Purchases 63,726 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 22.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 345,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,726 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $25,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $86,062,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $52,610,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,855,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 252.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,310,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,158,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.50.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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 corporate insiders.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 1.8 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $51.68 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.54.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

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.