Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 5,113 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 15.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,113 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $2,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,546,000 after buying an additional 36,736 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 215.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,444,000 after buying an additional 494,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,610,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 616,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,555,000 after buying an additional 77,224 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $71.98 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.06 and its 200 day moving average is $63.70. The company has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.02 and a beta of 1.64. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $47.00 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 40.89%. The business had revenue of $306.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.27%.

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.