Moelis & Company $MC Stock: Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Raises Holdings

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors increased its Moelis & Company stake by 22.3% in the third quarter, bringing its holdings to 503,899 shares valued at approximately $29.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 91.53% of the company.
• Moelis reported quarterly EPS of $0.63, ahead of the $0.62 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 12% year over year to $409.39 million. The company also maintains a $0.65 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 4.7% annualized yield.
• Shares opened at $55.27, below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating with a $71.00 price target, while recent insider transactions involved stock sales by two company insiders.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 22.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 503,899 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 91,746 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.64% of Moelis & Company worth $28,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,742,624 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $213,330,000 after purchasing an additional 310,001 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 45.6% in the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $101,103,000 after purchasing an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 5.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,277,774 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $72,825,000 after buying an additional 61,130 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 693,812 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $39,547,000 after buying an additional 6,112 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 43.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 649,724 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $37,035,000 after buying an additional 195,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of MC opened at $55.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.91. The company's fifty day moving average is $62.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.79. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.06 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $409.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total transaction of $336,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,078.30. The trade was a 97.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 1,881 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.06, for a total value of $129,901.86. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $527,134.98. This trade represents a 19.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Moelis & Company from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.00.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company NYSE: MC is an independent global investment bank that provides strategic and financial advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, governments and other institutions. The firm advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, liability management, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.

Moelis & Company serves clients across a range of industries, including technology, media and telecommunications; consumer and retail; energy and infrastructure; financial services; healthcare; industrials; and real estate.

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