Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Takes $350,000 Position in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Gamco Investors has acquired a new position in Moelis & Company, purchasing 6,000 shares valued at approximately $350,000 during the first quarter.
• Moelis & Company reported earnings of $0.53 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue up 38.1% year-over-year.
• The firm has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, representing a 3.6% yield, with a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $350,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 214.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,942,299 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $171,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,747 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 215.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,444,000 after buying an additional 494,123 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 457.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 485,238 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,318,000 after acquiring an additional 398,129 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,561,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,396,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the company'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 transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $71.55. 274,416 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 910,461. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.50.

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

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

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.