Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,311 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,316 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 13.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 7,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $633,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.2% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,166 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 12,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,290,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 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 value of $418,914.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.50.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC opened at $51.68 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.58. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

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.