Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Sells $260,110.00 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 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 transaction of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at $291,116. This represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of MC opened at $71.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.73 and a 200-day moving average of $71.74.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued 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 net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,549,000 after buying an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 30.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $49,017,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

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.