Prana Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Prana Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 48,201 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $3,561,000. Prana Capital Management LP owned about 0.06% of Moelis & Company as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 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 $418,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $478,854. The trade was a 46.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value 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 represents a 47.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $61.61. The company had a trading volume of 882,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 765,151. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $55.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00 and a beta of 1.66. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 119.27%.

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.