Moelis & Company $MC Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,385,692 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 129,368 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $95,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,811.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 516 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.89.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $62.25 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $51.06 and a 1 year high of $78.22. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.30.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company had revenue of $319.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 93.53%.

Insider Activity

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

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.