Emerald Advisers LLC Acquires 5,844 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Emerald Advisers LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 440,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,844 shares during the period. Moelis & Company accounts for approximately 1.2% of Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Emerald Advisers LLC owned approximately 0.59% of Moelis & Company worth $30,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,017,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 179.2% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 708,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,265,000 after purchasing an additional 454,478 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Moelis & Company by 40.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 246,655 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,113,000 after buying an additional 71,372 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the first quarter worth approximately $3,601,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 27.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 293,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,690,000 after buying an additional 62,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MC traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.93. 365,788 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 584,833. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $40.68 and a 52 week high of $72.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.28 and a beta of 1.33.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.58 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. Analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 452.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MC shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.83.

Moelis & 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.