Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Sells 2,726 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lessened its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 19.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,726 shares during the period. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MC. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth about $99,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 890.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,199 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $54.00 target price (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Moelis & Company news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 40,000 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total transaction of $2,159,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,290,965.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.63. The company had a trading volume of 105,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 594,918. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.56. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $38.58 and a 1-year high of $58.67.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $217.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.30 million. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a negative return on equity of 0.12%. Moelis & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,263.16%.

Moelis & Company Profile

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.