Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 155,525 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 70.1% in the first quarter, with current holdings of approximately $3.88 million in shares.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Moelis & Company, including MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB with a 1,551.3% increase and Versant Capital Management Inc with a 1,460.8% increase.
• Moelis & Company reported a 38.1% year-over-year revenue increase, with earnings per share of $0.53 for the last quarter, beating analyst estimates.

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 70.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,402 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 155,525 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Moelis & Company worth $3,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,356,893 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $137,548,000 after purchasing an additional 579,529 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 6,134 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $810,000. Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 311.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 465,677 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $27,177,000 after purchasing an additional 352,490 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:MC traded up $0.50 on Monday, hitting $75.19. The company had a trading volume of 152,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 892,135. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $71.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.36. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $47.00 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.60 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

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

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.