Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. owned 0.07% of Moelis & Company worth $4,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MC. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 368.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC opened at $62.44 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.48 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & 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.