Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher Sells 3,515 Shares of Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock opened at $71.37 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.58.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its 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 anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MC. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,549,000 after buying an additional 2,053 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 30.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth $49,017,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.