Scientech Research LLC Takes $810,000 Position in Moelis & Company $MC

Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,875 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $810,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth approximately $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 29.4% during the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 17,322 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth approximately $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $484,720,000 after purchasing an additional 158,373 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC traded down $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.69. 421,825 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 525,627. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 1.72. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $71.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.46. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $47.00 and a 1 year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 102.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MC. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company 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.