HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Moelis & Company $MC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 18.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,256,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 196,030 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $89,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MC. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 103.0% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 544 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Moelis & Company by 44.0% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 599 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth about $46,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.33.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $65.94 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $47.00 and a fifty-two week high of $78.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.93. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.87.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 43.19% and a net margin of 15.36%.The firm had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.44%.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.