Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 22,283 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 11.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 214,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,283 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $13,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 6,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.9% during the second quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 15,375 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $958,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 3.9% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,847 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MC. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.57.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $64.17 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46 and a beta of 1.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.54.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $356.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.14 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 47.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.96%.

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.