Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 344,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 11,097 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.46% of Moelis & Company worth $25,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,433,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,141,000 after acquiring an additional 96,720 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 129.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,229,000 after purchasing an additional 16,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $71.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.66.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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 raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’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 value of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

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.