Steph & Co. Sells 611 Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

Steph & Co. cut its stake in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 31.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 611 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 81.5% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Houlihan Lokey during the third quarter valued at $76,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in Houlihan Lokey by 69.1% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Houlihan Lokey during the 3rd quarter worth about $92,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on HLI. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.40.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of HLI stock opened at $175.09 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.41. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.84 and a 12 month high of $192.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.81 and a beta of 0.69.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.15. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 19.29%. The company had revenue of $574.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.63%.

Houlihan Lokey 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.