Moelis & Company $MC Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC has reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 72.6%, now holding 36,933 shares worth approximately $2.13 million.
• Moelis & Company reported $0.53 EPS for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analyst expectations, with revenues up 38.1% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.6%, despite a high payout ratio of 102.36%.

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 72.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,933 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 97,951 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $2,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 29.4% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 17,322 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% during 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 during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Monday, hitting $71.97. 612,501 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 628,671. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $69.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.41. The company has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 1.72. 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 announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors 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 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MC. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,515.84. This trade represents 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 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.