Short Interest in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Grows By 19.3%

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 692,800 shares, an increase of 19.3% from the November 30th total of 580,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 326,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on HLI. StockNews.com cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Houlihan Lokey from $171.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley cut Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $157.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total transaction of $33,616.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,109,496.08. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 23.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the second quarter worth $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Houlihan Lokey by 81.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the 3rd quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Houlihan Lokey during the 3rd quarter worth $92,000. 78.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Performance

NYSE HLI traded down $1.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $174.29. The company had a trading volume of 176,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,758. The business has a 50 day moving average of $179.30 and a 200-day moving average of $159.76. The company has a market cap of $12.11 billion, a PE ratio of 35.64 and a beta of 0.67. Houlihan Lokey has a 1-year low of $112.17 and a 1-year high of $192.10.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 15.77%. The firm had revenue of $574.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.63%.

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.