Xponance Inc. Has $375,000 Stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MC. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after buying an additional 10,698 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,810,000 after purchasing an additional 53,473 shares during the period. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 439,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,491,000 after purchasing an additional 5,062 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $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 at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $61.68 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $70.88 and its 200-day moving average is $71.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

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.