Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,840,000 shares, an increase of 39.1% from the February 13th total of 2,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 765,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,147,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $601,924,000 after acquiring an additional 99,766 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,062,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,119,000 after acquiring an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 860,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,546,000 after acquiring an additional 36,736 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $60.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.20 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $72.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.73. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

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.