Moelis & Company $MC Shares Sold by Trust Point Inc.

Key Points

• Trust Point Inc. reduced its holdings in Moelis & Company by 40.2% in the second quarter, selling 4,635 shares and leaving them with 6,884 shares valued at $429,000.
• Moelis & Company reported a strong quarterly earnings performance with earnings per share of $0.53, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.32 and showing a 38.1% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which reflects an annual yield of 3.4% but has a payout ratio exceeding 100%.

Trust Point Inc. trimmed its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,884 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,635 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.'s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 214.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,942,299 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $171,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,747 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,356,893 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $137,548,000 after purchasing an additional 579,529 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 457.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 485,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,318,000 after acquiring an additional 398,129 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 311.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 465,677 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $27,177,000 after buying an additional 352,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $19,561,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MC. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.67.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:MC traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $76.65. The company had a trading volume of 76,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 889,134. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22 and a beta of 1.72. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $71.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.80.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. The business 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.