Moelis & Company $MC Shares Purchased by Millennium Management LLC

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 311.4% in the first quarter, owning 465,677 shares valued at approximately $27.2 million.
• Moelis & Company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.53, significantly exceeding estimates, with revenue climbing by 38.1% year-over-year to $365.38 million.
• The firm has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, which reflects an annualized yield of 3.4%, despite a dividend payout ratio of 102.36%.

Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 311.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 465,677 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 352,490 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.59% of Moelis & Company worth $27,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $484,720,000 after acquiring an additional 158,373 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 2,006,747 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,260,345 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $131,914,000 after purchasing an additional 95,114 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,264,200 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $73,779,000 after purchasing an additional 99,313 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 958,902 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $55,961,000 after purchasing an additional 83,034 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $74.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 507,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 894,273. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.36. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $47.00 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 1.72.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 102.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MC. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on 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 upped their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.67.

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.