Brokerages Set Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Price Target at $191.29

Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $191.2857.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HLI shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $205.00 to $193.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Houlihan Lokey from $177.00 to $172.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Houlihan Lokey news, Chairman Scott L. Beiser sold 6,265 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total transaction of $941,378.90. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 6,265 shares in the company, valued at $941,378.90. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 22.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Houlihan Lokey by 24.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the second quarter valued at $55,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 91.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 1.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Henshaw Capital LLC purchased a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the first quarter valued at $1,144,000. 78.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE HLI opened at $139.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.13. The stock has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.95. Houlihan Lokey has a twelve month low of $131.30 and a twelve month high of $211.78.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $635.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $679.22 million. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 22.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. Research analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey will post 8.54 EPS for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Houlihan Lokey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.02%.

About Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey, Inc is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded in 1972 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company specializes in advisory services across a broad range of transaction types and financial matters. Since its founding, Houlihan Lokey has grown to serve corporations, financial sponsors, and government entities worldwide, providing expertise in complex and high-stakes engagements.

The firm’s core service offerings include mergers and acquisitions advisory, capital markets advisory, financial restructuring and distressed M&A, and valuation and fairness opinions.