Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires 141,221 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 491,470 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 141,221 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.63% of Moelis & Company worth $35,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 9.9% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 42,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,456,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $264,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 37.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 42,828 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,499,000 after buying an additional 11,692 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 10.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $172,065.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.33.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $58.41 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.17. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $78.22. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.90.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The firm had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

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.