Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $27.86 Million Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 377,028 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $27,855,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.50% of Moelis & Company at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $2,784,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,119,000 after buying an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $9,149,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $412,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 262.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 22,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 16,563 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $51.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37 and a beta of 1.53. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.65.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.03%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.73%.

Moelis & 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.