Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 368.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $75,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $130,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 24.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In related news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 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 $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC opened at $61.86 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.35 and a 200 day moving average of $72.05.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. Analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio 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.