Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 516 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 47.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 115.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth about $75,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $130,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $81.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 153.29 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.40 and a 200 day moving average of $70.67. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 452.83%.

Moelis & Company 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.