Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,136 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 622 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $2,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,433,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,141,000 after purchasing an additional 96,720 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 129.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,229,000 after purchasing an additional 16,830 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.2 %

MC stock opened at $75.92 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $75.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.22. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.14 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 136.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Profile

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.