Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Holdings Boosted by EFG Asset Management North America Corp.

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 172.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,945 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. owned 0.10% of Moelis & Company worth $5,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of MC stock opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.56.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (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, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

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.