Ciafone Katherine Pilcher Sells 3,515 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $71.37 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced 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 return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. On average, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.65 dividend. 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. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MC. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,017,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.