Houlihan Lokey’s (HLI) “Market Perform” Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

HLI has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of 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 research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Houlihan Lokey from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.40.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 1.0 %

HLI opened at $181.92 on Wednesday. Houlihan Lokey has a twelve month low of $119.28 and a twelve month high of $192.10. The firm has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.04.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 20.59% and a net margin of 16.00%. On average, analysts forecast that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,615,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,276,000 after acquiring an additional 21,106 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 970,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,405,000 after purchasing an additional 26,564 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Houlihan Lokey by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 693,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,525,000 after purchasing an additional 132,516 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $94,974,000 after purchasing an additional 149,114 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 399,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,111,000 after buying an additional 9,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.