Royal Bank of Canada Buys 22,663 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 464,633 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 22,663 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.59% of Moelis & Company worth $27,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,067,000 after acquiring an additional 17,322 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $484,720,000 after acquiring an additional 158,373 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of MC stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.69. The stock had a trading volume of 421,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,627. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $71.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.46. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 1.72.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The company had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the firm's 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 in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 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.