Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,554 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.10% of Moelis & Company worth $5,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MC opened at $58.37 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.44. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS 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%. Analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MC. StockNews.com lowered Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.