Invst LLC Buys Shares of 11,792 Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Invst LLC has acquired a new position in Moelis & Company, purchasing 11,792 shares for approximately $688,000.
• Moelis & Company reported an earnings per share of $0.53 for the last quarter, significantly surpassing analyst expectations of $0.32, and showed a revenue increase of 38.1% year-over-year.
• The firm has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 3.5% and a dividend payout ratio of 102.36%.

Invst LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,792 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MC. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the first quarter valued at $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,067,000 after buying an additional 17,322 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter worth $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $484,720,000 after buying an additional 158,373 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded up $2.17 on Thursday, hitting $77.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 202,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 887,777. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.56. The company has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The firm had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is 102.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

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.