Houlihan Lokey’s (HLI) Market Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $192.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $170.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.40.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE HLI opened at $180.16 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $179.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.69. The company has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84 and a beta of 0.69. Houlihan Lokey has a 1 year low of $119.28 and a 1 year high of $192.10.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 15.77%. Research analysts forecast that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is 46.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 46,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,137,000 after buying an additional 14,141 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 14,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $398,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 142.2% in the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after buying an additional 4,407 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.