Fifth Third Bancorp Has $2.22 Million Stake in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp dramatically increased its stake in Moelis & Company during the first quarter, lifting its holdings by 9,022.5% to 38,953 shares worth about $2.22 million.
• Moelis & Company continues to draw heavy institutional interest, with 91.53% of the stock owned by institutions and hedge funds; several other funds also raised their positions recently.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but cautious: the stock’s average rating is Hold with an average target price of $73.38, while the company also recently reported earnings below estimates and paid a $0.65 quarterly dividend yielding about 3.8%.

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 9,022.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,953 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 38,526 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.05% of Moelis & Company worth $2,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 381,458 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $26,221,000 after purchasing an additional 26,800 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $5,718,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,019,832 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $70,103,000 after buying an additional 100,956 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 714.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 182,147 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,521,000 after buying an additional 159,779 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 541.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,726 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,364,000 after buying an additional 16,651 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Moelis & Company from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.38.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $67.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.62. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.06 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.53%.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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