Nebula Research & Development LLC Makes New Investment in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,799 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $872,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE MC traded down $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $53.50. 891,880 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,614. The company has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40 and a beta of 1.53. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $57.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.71. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. The firm had revenue of $306.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $309.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. Moelis & Company's revenue for the quarter was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 119.27%.

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.