Ieq Capital LLC Makes New $975,000 Investment in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company, purchasing 16,707 shares valued at approximately $975,000 during the first quarter.
• Moelis & Company reported earnings of $0.53 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates significantly and boasting a revenue increase of 38.1% year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.7% and a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 16,707 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $975,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $59,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $107,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company 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 sale, the director directly owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of MC traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $72.06. The stock had a trading volume of 52,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,490. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.24. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.27 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The company had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is presently 102.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.67.

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.