11,278 Shares in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Purchased by GSA Capital Partners LLP

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP has acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company, purchasing 11,278 shares valued at approximately $658,000 in the first quarter.
• Moelis & Company has reported a net margin of 14.31% and a notable 38.1% year-over-year increase in revenue for the last quarter, reaching $365.38 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share with a yield of 3.8%, further demonstrating its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,278 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,774 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,268,000 after purchasing an additional 7,213 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,610,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $4,933,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.8%

MC stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $69.50. The stock had a trading volume of 285,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 948,254. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.32. The company has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36 and a beta of 1.70. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $365.38 million for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

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.