Madison Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Madison Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,218,178 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 66,083 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $83,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $172,065.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $309,967.63. The trade was a 35.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $64.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.23 and its 200 day moving average is $65.52. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.06 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.53%.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.