Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 655 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,939 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 655 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 26.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 2,256 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 15.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 20,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,826 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.6% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $465,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. This represents a 46.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $68.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.40 and its 200-day moving average is $72.05.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, 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 report 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

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.