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

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its holdings in Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $4,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MC. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,062,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth $27,855,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 252.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,310,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $10,158,000. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $62.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.15 and a 200 day moving average of $71.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.74 and a beta of 1.43. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. 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%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

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.