Sei Investments Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Sei Investments Co. lowered its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 275,669 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,691 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.37% of Moelis & Company worth $20,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,570 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,287,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated 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 set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % 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, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE:MC opened at $59.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.93 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $70.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.41. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.73%.

Moelis & 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.