Invst LLC Acquires New Shares in 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 purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,792 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 214.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,942,299 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $171,713,000 after buying an additional 2,006,747 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,356,893 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $137,548,000 after buying an additional 579,529 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,260,345 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $131,914,000 after buying an additional 95,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,264,200 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $73,779,000 after buying an additional 99,313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report 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 report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.67.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% 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 this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.43. 507,811 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 518,260. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $71.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The business had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

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

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.