Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stake in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its position in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.07% of Moelis & Company worth $4,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 368.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MC opened at $62.91 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.56. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.74 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company 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 transaction of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.