Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Position in Moelis & Company $MC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 381,458 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,800 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $26,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New England Research & Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 6,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,718,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the third quarter valued at $244,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,665,000 after purchasing an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $172,065.95. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $309,967.63. This trade represents a 35.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $54.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.36. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The firm had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MC shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.44.

Moelis & Company 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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.