Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 1,971 Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,971 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $146,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MC. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,433,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 13.7% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $9,149,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 129.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 7,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $63,229,000 after acquiring an additional 16,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 5.3 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $73.60 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.82 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.79 and a 200 day moving average of $71.50.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.