Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe Sells 5,661 Shares

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock traded down $2.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $71.37. 1,220,221 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 776,971. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.73 and a 200-day moving average of $71.58.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 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. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

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.