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 reduced its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 47.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at about $59,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at about $107,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other 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 transaction of $460,537.60. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was 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 $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MC. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company 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 issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC traded down $0.96 on Friday, hitting $74.69. The company had a trading volume of 421,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,627. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.46. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $47.00 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 1.72.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

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

Moelis & 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.