Pier Capital LLC Has $7.96 Million Stock Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Pier Capital LLC cut its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,248 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $7,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MC. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $2,784,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,119,000 after purchasing an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 129.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 7,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $412,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 3.5 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.56. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

Insider Activity

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. This trade represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. This represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

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.