UBS Group AG Sells 57,261 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

UBS Group AG lowered its position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 624,407 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 57,261 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $42,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MC. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,231,000 after purchasing an additional 609,162 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $235,654,000 after buying an additional 458,575 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 91.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 793,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $56,600,000 after buying an additional 378,636 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,256,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,601,000 after buying an additional 196,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 714.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 182,147 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,521,000 after buying an additional 159,779 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $172,065.95. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $309,967.63. The trade was a 35.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.89.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC opened at $63.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.06 and a 200-day moving average of $65.64. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $51.06 and a one year high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The firm had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.53%.

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. 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.