Insider Selling: Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Sells 2,765 Shares of Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE MC traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $60.76. 1,465,360 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,008,416. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.72. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $78.22.

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

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth about $6,105,000. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 354,658 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $23,691,000 after buying an additional 17,740 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 354.1% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 42,789 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,052,000 after buying an additional 33,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 289,371 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,638,000 after buying an additional 36,431 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.33.

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. 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.