Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 38,526 Shares of Moelis & Company $MC

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 9,022.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,953 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,526 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $2,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 64.4% during 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 period. Allworth Financial LP increased 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 292.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE MC opened at $67.86 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.83 and its 200-day moving average is $65.62. The company has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22.

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

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.38.

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. 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.