Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Acquires 136,235 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 752,615 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 136,235 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 1.06% of Moelis & Company worth $42,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,787,483 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $351,449,000 after acquiring an additional 28,446 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,279,209 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $328,511,000 after acquiring an additional 49,291 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 16.2% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,239,113 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $282,881,000 after acquiring an additional 870,362 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1,654.6% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,807,979 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $217,994,000 after acquiring an additional 4,533,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,907,088 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $111,545,000 after acquiring an additional 18,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $50.80.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MC traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.36. 455,683 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 575,186. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $33.87 and a fifty-two week high of $58.67. The firm has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of -156.56 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.73.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.05. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 2.89% and a negative return on equity of 3.82%. The business had revenue of $214.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is -666.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total transaction of $55,733.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Vice Chairman Eric Cantor sold 17,857 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $939,278.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 195,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,302,393.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total transaction of $55,733.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225. Corporate insiders own 6.96% of the company's stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.