Insider Selling: Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Director Sells $184,437.30 in Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. The trade was a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $71.37 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. Analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $601,924,000 after purchasing an additional 99,766 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,973,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,546,000 after purchasing an additional 36,736 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.