Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 53,756 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. sold 53,756 shares of Moelis & Company, reducing its holdings by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter, leaving it with 26,008 shares valued at approximately $1.62 million.
• Moelis & Company reported a 38.1% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, totaling $365.38 million, and exceeded earnings estimates with $0.53 earnings per share.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 3.6%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 102.36%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 67.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,008 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 53,756 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the first quarter valued at $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,067,000 after acquiring an additional 17,322 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In related news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $72.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46 and a beta of 1.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.12. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.Moelis & Company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.

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