Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Madison Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,264,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,779,000 after purchasing an additional 99,313 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,546,000 after purchasing an additional 36,736 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,444,000 after purchasing an additional 494,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 616,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,555,000 after acquiring an additional 77,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 457.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 485,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,318,000 after acquiring an additional 398,129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $71.64 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 28.20 and a beta of 1.70. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MC. Morgan Stanley upgraded Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 upped 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average 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.