Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,810 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 25,678 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.12% of Moelis & Company worth $6,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $59.39 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.68.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.