Palisades Investment Partners LLC Increases Stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Palisades Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,526 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 6,511 shares during the period. Moelis & Company accounts for 2.4% of Palisades Investment Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Palisades Investment Partners LLC owned 0.10% of Moelis & Company worth $5,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $601,924,000 after buying an additional 99,766 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 buying an additional 36,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,444,000 after buying an additional 494,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 135,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 770,216. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09 and a beta of 1.66. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $47.00 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. Moelis & Company's quarterly revenue was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.27%.

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.