Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Moelis & Company $MC

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 361,858 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,985 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of Moelis & Company worth $20,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 292.2% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.38.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE MC opened at $67.86 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $51.06 and a twelve month high of $78.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $66.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.62. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 14.46%.The business had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.53%.

Moelis & Company 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.