Moelis & Company $MC Shares Sold by Axiom Investors LLC DE

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE significantly reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 47.7%, owning 148,130 shares worth $8,645,000 after selling 135,063 shares in Q1.
• Moelis & Company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.32 and marking a 38.1% year-over-year revenue increase to $365.38 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, representing an annualized yield of 3.7% and a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Axiom Investors LLC DE lowered its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 47.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 148,130 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 135,063 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned 0.19% of Moelis & Company worth $8,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $335,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 616,604 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $45,555,000 after acquiring an additional 77,224 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,966 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,508 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,290 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 255,444 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $18,872,000 after acquiring an additional 70,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business'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 value of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $70.65 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.24. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.82 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.00.

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.

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