Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Price Target Raised to $172.00

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) had its target price boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $171.00 to $172.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective points to a potential downside of 1.13% from the stock’s current price.

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

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

Shares of HLI opened at $173.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.58 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.97 and a 200-day moving average of $158.03. Houlihan Lokey has a one year low of $112.17 and a one year high of $192.10.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Houlihan Lokey’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 23.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 24,074.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 501,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,647,000 after acquiring an additional 499,535 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 666.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 283,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,831,000 after purchasing an additional 246,705 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the 3rd quarter worth $24,177,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 601,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,974,000 after buying an additional 149,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 23.6% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 693,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,525,000 after buying an additional 132,516 shares in the last quarter. 78.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.