Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 21.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 53,115 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 9,512 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $3,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 103.0% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 544 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 89.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 599 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $69.15 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.02. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $78.57. The company has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $487.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $430.17 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 43.19%. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 88.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.33.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.