Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP reduced its stake in Moelis & Company by 7.1%, now owning 80,609 shares valued at approximately $4.7 million.
• Moelis & Company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.53, beating analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 38.1% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.70% and a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Royce & Associates LP decreased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,609 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,201 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.11% of Moelis & Company worth $4,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the first quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC traded down $1.04 on Thursday, reaching $70.12. The company had a trading volume of 201,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,271. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57 and a beta of 1.64. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.49.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.36%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

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.