London Co. of Virginia Lowers Stock Position in Moelis & Company $MC

London Co. of Virginia reduced its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,903,947 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 158,032 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $165,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the first quarter worth $960,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth about $427,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 43,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 11,800 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $15,615,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth approximately $476,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MC shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.38.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $66.97 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.57. The company has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.85. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 93.53%.

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.