Emerald Advisers LLC Cuts Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Emerald Advisers LLC trimmed its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 426,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13,336 shares during the period. Moelis & Company makes up approximately 1.2% of Emerald Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $31,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock opened at $60.93 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 34.62 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.53.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS 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. Shareholders 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 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

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.