Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,197 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,364 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.26% of Moelis & Company worth $14,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $49.79. The company had a trading volume of 27,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 726,530. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39 and a beta of 1.53. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.22%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $418,914.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 6,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $478,854. The trade was a 46.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 over the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.50.

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.