Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) had its price objective hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $171.00 to $172.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on HLI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Houlihan Lokey from $157.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $174.20.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE HLI opened at $173.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.58 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $178.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.76. Houlihan Lokey has a 12 month low of $112.17 and a 12 month high of $192.10.

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

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Houlihan Lokey

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLI. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 264.5% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Houlihan Lokey by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the third quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 78.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.