Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 64.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 253,658 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 99,316 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Moelis & Company worth $14,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $601,924,000 after buying an additional 99,766 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $69,119,000 after acquiring an additional 12,632 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $63,546,000 after acquiring an additional 36,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 215.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,444,000 after purchasing an additional 494,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.17.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE MC traded up $1.28 on Thursday, hitting $63.04. 776,996 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 803,542. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $56.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92 and a beta of 1.64. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 40.89%. The company had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 41.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.27%.

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.