Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 177,138 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 2.5%, now holding 6,920,207 shares valued at approximately $403.86 million.
• Moelis & Company reported a significant earnings increase, with earnings per share rising to $0.53 from $0.18 year-over-year, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.32.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65, representing an annual yield of 3.6%, despite a dividend payout ratio of 102.36%.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,920,207 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 177,138 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 8.81% of Moelis & Company worth $403,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 214.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,942,299 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $171,713,000 after buying an additional 2,006,747 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $53,444,000 after purchasing an additional 494,123 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position 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 worth $28,318,000 after buying an additional 398,129 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the first quarter worth approximately $19,561,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $16,396,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on 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 given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of MC traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $72.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 430,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,724. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.67.

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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.