Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Decreases Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,051 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,787,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $351,449,000 after purchasing an additional 28,446 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,374,385 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $189,404,000 after buying an additional 334,620 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,562,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 927,705 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,867,000 after buying an additional 228,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Moelis & Company by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 814,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,722,000 after buying an additional 21,839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $56.86 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $38.58 and a 1 year high of $58.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $54.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.60.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $217.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.30 million. Moelis & Company had a negative return on equity of 0.12% and a negative net margin of 1.33%. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is -1,263.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total value of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Moelis & Company news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total value of $2,159,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,290,965.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

Moelis & Company Profile

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.