Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Sells $260,110.00 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 3.0 %

MC traded down $2.20 on Friday, hitting $71.37. 1,220,221 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 776,971. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.58.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. Equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MC. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 372,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,549,000 after buying an additional 2,053 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $75,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,017,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.