Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Price Target to $170.00

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) had its price target decreased by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $172.00 to $170.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 2.60% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HLI. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Houlihan Lokey from $157.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Houlihan Lokey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.80.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

Shares of HLI traded down $2.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $165.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 108,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 314,391. Houlihan Lokey has a 12-month low of $112.84 and a 12-month high of $192.10. The stock has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $180.04 and its 200 day moving average is $162.88.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 24,074.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 501,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,647,000 after purchasing an additional 499,535 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 666.8% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 283,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,831,000 after buying an additional 246,705 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Houlihan Lokey during the third quarter worth $24,177,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Houlihan Lokey by 33.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 601,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,974,000 after acquiring an additional 149,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 132,516 shares during the period. 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.