Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Receives $174.20 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $174.20.

HLI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley cut Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $157.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $171.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:HLI opened at $173.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $179.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.70. Houlihan Lokey has a 52 week low of $112.17 and a 52 week high of $192.10.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.15. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 15.77%. The company had revenue of $574.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $537.93 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Houlihan Lokey’s revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is 46.63%.

Insider Activity at Houlihan Lokey

In other news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total value of $33,616.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,601 shares in the company, valued at $1,109,496.08. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 23.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Houlihan Lokey

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HLI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 517,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,851,000 after buying an additional 6,291 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Houlihan Lokey by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter valued at $439,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 19.8% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,862 shares during the period. Finally, Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.1% during the second quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 177,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,296,000 after purchasing an additional 3,575 shares during the last quarter. 78.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Houlihan Lokey Company Profile

Houlihan Lokey, Inc, an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Corporate Finance, Financial Restructuring, and Financial and Valuation Advisory.