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

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 158,373 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.58% of Moelis & Company worth $484,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth approximately $107,000. Argent Trust Co lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 35.5% in the first quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 12,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 3,408 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 3.9% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,847 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 3.5% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 615,169 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,901,000 after buying an additional 20,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 3,395.4% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 29,851 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,742,000 after buying an additional 28,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $74.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.08 and a 200-day moving average of $63.09. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $47.00 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 1.70.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.00.

Moelis & 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.