Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 43.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 649,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 195,752 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $37,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MC. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $60,857,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,231,000 after buying an additional 609,162 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 45.6% in the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $101,103,000 after buying an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 16.1% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $235,654,000 after buying an additional 458,575 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MC shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.62.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 2.0%

MC opened at $68.43 on Tuesday. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $67.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.59%.

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. 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.