Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys New Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 24,842 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,835,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 4.0% during 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 during the period. Heritage Family Offices LLP grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,570 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,287,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of MC opened at $59.72 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.93 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.41.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MC. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

Insider Activity

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm’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 $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 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 $418,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. This trade represents a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.