Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Shares in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 24,842 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,835,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake 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 valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 368.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $418,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock opened at $59.72 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.93 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, 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 given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company 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.