Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 158,373 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 158,373 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Moelis & Company worth $484,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $59,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $107,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.8%

MC stock opened at $74.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 1.70. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.09.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 102.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley raised Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.00.

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.