Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lowered its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 894,212 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 79,928 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 1.19% of Moelis & Company worth $66,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $633,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,166 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $971,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,290,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock traded up $0.60 on Thursday, reaching $54.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 321,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 742,378. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $47.00 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.71.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 119.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.83.

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.