Dark Forest Capital Management LP Purchases New Stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,871 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $508,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $86,062,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,610,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $20,720,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 252.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $16,310,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MC shares. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MC traded up $2.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $55.44. 212,780 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 741,775. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51 and a beta of 1.53. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $57.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.60.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 119.27%.

Moelis & Company Profile

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.