Legal & General Group Plc Has $14.50 Million Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,364 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $14,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE MC opened at $52.34 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.12 and a 200-day moving average of $69.90. The company has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 1.53.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change 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 yield of 4.97%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.