Princeton Capital Management LLC Invests $222,000 in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Princeton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 137,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,413,000 after purchasing an additional 6,200 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at $1,329,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Moelis & Company by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,229,000 after acquiring an additional 16,830 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 75.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 87,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,975,000 after acquiring an additional 37,375 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $63.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.56. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,116. This represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

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.