Bank of Montreal Can Buys 1,067 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,752 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $51.68 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.58.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

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.