Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Short Interest Up 20.1% in March

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,610,000 shares, a growth of 20.1% from the February 28th total of 3,840,000 shares. Currently, 6.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 894,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm’s 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 $718,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 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 $418,914.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $86,062,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $52,610,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Moelis & Company by 215.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,444,000 after acquiring an additional 494,123 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $27,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $20,720,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 3.0 %

MC stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.15. The stock had a trading volume of 820,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 699,236. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.38.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

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.