Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Moelis & Company $MC

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 32.8%, purchasing an additional 83,260 shares, bringing their total holdings to 336,918 shares worth approximately $22,169,000.
• In the 2nd quarter, Moelis & Company reported earnings of $0.53 per share and revenue of $365.38 million, significantly exceeding analysts' estimates.
• The firm also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, yielding 3.4%, despite having a dividend payout ratio of 102.36%.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 336,918 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 83,260 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned 0.43% of Moelis & Company worth $22,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the first quarter valued at $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 29.4% during the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,067,000 after buying an additional 17,322 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the first quarter valued at $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moelis & Company by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $484,720,000 after buying an additional 158,373 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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 shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.67.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, 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 transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $75.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 196,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 889,891. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.80. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.59 and a beta of 1.72. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $47.00 and a 12-month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The company had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. Moelis & Company's quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 102.36%.

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.