Moelis & Company $MC Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 27.9%, owning approximately 644,943 shares valued at $37.64 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Moelis & Company during the same period, with their combined ownership amounting to 91.53% of the company's stock.
• Moelis & Company reported earnings of $0.53 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share on September 18.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC trimmed its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 27.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 644,943 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 249,269 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.82% of Moelis & Company worth $37,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,567 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Palisades Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,730 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Moelis & Company by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,394 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 5.8% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,373 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock traded down $1.1110 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $70.2290. 778,841 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 803,152. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.65 and a beta of 1.70. The company's 50 day moving average is $67.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.91. 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 data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. Moelis & Company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. 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.