Rhumbline Advisers Increases Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,954 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.26% of Moelis & Company worth $14,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $26,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $130,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

NYSE MC opened at $71.37 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.66.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

About Moelis & Company

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.