Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Price Target Raised to $180.00

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $178.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

HLI has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $170.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.40.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

HLI opened at $181.92 on Wednesday. Houlihan Lokey has a fifty-two week low of $119.28 and a fifty-two week high of $192.10. The company has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.04.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 20.59%. As a group, analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is presently 43.51%.

Institutional Trading of Houlihan Lokey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLI. Barclays PLC raised its position in Houlihan Lokey by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 36,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,818,000 after buying an additional 6,483 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 399,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,615,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,276,000 after purchasing an additional 21,106 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the fourth quarter worth $5,133,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 2,482.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 9,433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

About Houlihan Lokey

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.