Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.04 Million in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 14,039 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MC. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,784,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,119,000 after buying an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $9,149,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $27,855,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $412,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. The trade was a 47.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.5%

Moelis & Company stock opened at $61.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70 and a beta of 1.66. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $306.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 119.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.83.

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.