Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 167 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,030 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $76,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $60.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.50 and a 200-day moving average of $71.53. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $90,798. This trade represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.83.

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.