Moelis & Company $MC Shares Sold by Hodges Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Hodges Capital Management Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 95.4%, owning only 5,715 shares after selling 118,125 shares in the first quarter, with holdings worth $334,000.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Moelis & Company, with projections ranging from $64.00 to $90.00, and the consensus rating currently stands at "Hold."
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which translates to an annual yield of 3.5%, despite a payout ratio exceeding 100%.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 95.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,715 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 118,125 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 214.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,942,299 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $171,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,747 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 32.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,356,893 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $137,548,000 after buying an additional 579,529 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 457.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 485,238 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,318,000 after buying an additional 398,129 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 311.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 465,677 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $27,177,000 after buying an additional 352,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at about $19,561,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

NYSE:MC traded up $2.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $77.60. 202,553 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 887,777. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.56. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 102.36%.

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.