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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. This represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.0 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $71.37 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.58. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock 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 results 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth 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 holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.0% during 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 during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MC shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.