Raymond James Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 12.9%, now holding approximately 0.54% of the company worth about $24.8 million.
• Moelis & Company recently received several upgrades from research analysts, with target prices raised significantly by firms such as Morgan Stanley and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, indicating positive expectations for the company.
• The firm reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.53, surpassing analysts' estimates, and a 38.1% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 12.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 425,732 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 48,704 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.54% of Moelis & Company worth $24,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peak Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,567 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,730 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,373 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,906 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company 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 directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:MC traded down $0.97 on Friday, hitting $71.97. The stock had a trading volume of 612,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,671. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.41. 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 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 company had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. Moelis & Company's revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is presently 102.36%.

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.