Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Acquires 1,583 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 7.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,045 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $1,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.9% during the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 6,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Palisades Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the first quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Choreo LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 5.1% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.9% during the second quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.7% during the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 15,375 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $958,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.67.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.2%

Moelis & Company stock opened at $68.85 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $47.00 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $72.15 and its 200-day moving average is $63.42. The company has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 1.77.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The business had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 102.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $189,639.80. Following the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

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.