Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 16,322 Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 333,370 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 16,322 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $22,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 755,541 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,960,000 after acquiring an additional 29,532 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,495 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Moelis & Company by 63.5% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $243,000. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 24,530 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,395,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $74.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a PE ratio of 141.21 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.65. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $81.60.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The company had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.15) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 452.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $86.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

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.