Brokerages Set Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Target Price at $185.00

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $192.20.

Several research firms have commented on HLI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $159.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Houlihan Lokey news, Chairman Scott L. Beiser sold 8,008 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.71, for a total value of $1,431,109.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher M. Crain sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.02, for a total transaction of $86,510.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 23.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,306,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 41,030 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,281,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $569,830,000 after buying an additional 208,851 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,875,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $325,651,000 after purchasing an additional 161,647 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,251,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $217,393,000 after purchasing an additional 20,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,041,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,815,000 after purchasing an additional 573,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $176.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.99. Houlihan Lokey has a 1 year low of $129.32 and a 1 year high of $192.10. The company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.40 and a beta of 0.83.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.35. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.73% and a return on equity of 21.61%. The firm had revenue of $666.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $628.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from Houlihan Lokey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.