Insider Selling: Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Sells 5,661 Shares of Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares in the company, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $71.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.74. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. Analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. 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%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth 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 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 purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.