Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Sells $336,105.00 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total transaction of $336,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,078.30. This represents a 97.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of MC opened at $66.53 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $51.06 and a 1 year high of $78.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.05. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.84.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced 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 business had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 14.50%.Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.62.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the second quarter worth $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 292.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% 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. 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.