Petrus Trust Company LTA Invests $221,000 in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA invested $221,000 in Moelis & Company by acquiring 3,787 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Charles Schwab, increased their holdings in Moelis & Company, indicating strong institutional interest.
• An analysis from Goldman Sachs raised Moelis & Company's target price from $56.00 to $63.00, reflecting positive expectations from Wall Street analysts.

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,787 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Moelis & Company by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 616,604 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $45,555,000 after buying an additional 77,224 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Moelis & Company by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,966 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 2,508 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Moelis & Company by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,290 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Moelis & Company by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 255,444 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $18,872,000 after buying an additional 70,300 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE MC traded down $0.96 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.69. The stock had a trading volume of 421,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,627. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 1.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.46. 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 released its 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. The business had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.