Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 579,529 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 32.6% during the first quarter, owning over 2.35 million shares valued at approximately $137.5 million.
• Moelis & Company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.53, surpassing estimates and showing a 38.1% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, equating to a yield of 3.4% and a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,356,893 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 579,529 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 3.00% of Moelis & Company worth $137,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MC. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,567 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the first 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. Choreo LLC increased its position in Moelis & Company by 5.1% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 3.5% in the first quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,906 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the company'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 transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MC traded up $1.81 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 57,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 887,959. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.95 and a beta of 1.72. The business's 50 day moving average price is $71.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.47. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $47.00 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. The company's revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.