HighTower Advisors LLC Has $64.71 Million Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 875,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 20,367 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $64,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,619,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,927 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,432 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Capital Management Corp VA raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 181,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,379,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,784,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 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 $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.6 %

MC stock opened at $60.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

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.