Moelis & Company $MC Shares Purchased by LPL Financial LLC

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 7.1%, acquiring an additional 4,114 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total to 61,888 shares worth $3,612,000.
• Corporate insiders, including General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe, have been selling shares, with Watanabe selling 6,340 shares at an average price of $72.64, reducing his ownership by 97.98%.
• Moelis & Company reported a $0.53 EPS for the latest quarter, significantly exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.32, and showed a revenue increase of 38.1% year-over-year.

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,888 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 4,114 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.08% of Moelis & Company worth $3,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,913 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the period. Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 33.3% in the first quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.5% in the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,264,200 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $73,779,000 after purchasing an additional 99,313 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at $324,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at $543,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 directly owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of MC traded down $1.1110 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.2290. 778,841 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 803,152. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.91. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65 and a beta of 1.70. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS 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 company had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is currently 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.