Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $16.31 Million Stock Position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 252.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 158,200 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $16,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,973,000 after buying an additional 10,698 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,229,000 after buying an additional 16,830 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,141,000 after buying an additional 96,720 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,810,000 after buying an additional 53,473 shares during the period. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 439,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,491,000 after buying an additional 5,062 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.6 %

NYSE MC opened at $68.13 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.05. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

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.