D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $500,000 Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lowered its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,766 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 30.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 6.2% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 143,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,848,000 after buying an additional 8,342 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 108.1% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,043 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,854. This represents a 46.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of MC stock opened at $68.97 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.87. The firm has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

Moelis & Company 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.