3,000 Shares in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Bought by Princeton Capital Management LLC

Princeton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.83.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In related news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’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 transaction of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 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 $418,914.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,854. This trade represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. 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 $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.56.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. 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.