Osamu R. Watanabe Sells 5,661 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.0 %

MC opened at $71.37 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.66. The firm has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given 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 3.64%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

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.