Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Acquires 47,365 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,190,221 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 47,365 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Moelis & Company worth $408,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 26,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,213,000. Evoke Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $3,079,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $801,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,118,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $63,483,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.33.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $70.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -369.26 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.27. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $38.58 and a one year high of $70.82.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. The business had revenue of $264.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up 47.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,263.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total transaction of $34,298.55. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,385.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Moelis & Company news, CFO Joseph Simon sold 6,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total value of $430,272.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total transaction of $34,298.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,385.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,526 shares of company stock worth $830,133. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Profile

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.