Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 764,000 shares, a growth of 28.9% from the February 13th total of 592,700 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 400,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on HLI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $180.00 to $179.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 12,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $655,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of HLI traded up $2.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $161.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 127,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,770. The company’s 50-day moving average is $174.04 and its 200-day moving average is $172.05. Houlihan Lokey has a 52-week low of $121.81 and a 52-week high of $192.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 0.72.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 20.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is presently 43.51%.

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.