Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Sells $260,110.00 in Stock

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

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC opened at $71.37 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.73 and a 200-day moving average of $71.74.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MC. 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 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.