Wedbush Securities Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lowered its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,623 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 63.5% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.9% in the first quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 3.3% in the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,666 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total transaction of $365,561.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86 shares in the company, valued at $5,922.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total transaction of $365,561.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86 shares in the company, valued at $5,922.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joseph Simon sold 6,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total transaction of $430,272.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,526 shares of company stock worth $830,133. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $67.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of -354.47 and a beta of 1.33. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $38.58 and a 1 year high of $70.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.74.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $264.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.90 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 47.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is -1,263.16%.

About Moelis & Company

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.