Versor Investments LP Acquires New Stake in Moelis & Company $MC

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MC. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 21.8% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,115 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,788,000 after purchasing an additional 9,512 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth $6,105,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.33.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC opened at $72.74 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.02. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $78.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 43.19%. The business had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

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.