Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to Underweight

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $200.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $171.00.

HLI has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Houlihan Lokey in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $149.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.40.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

NYSE HLI opened at $180.09 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.70. Houlihan Lokey has a 1 year low of $112.17 and a 1 year high of $192.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83 and a beta of 0.67.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $574.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.93 million. The firm’s revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $30,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,656.28. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 23.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Houlihan Lokey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 14.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,638,000 after buying an additional 2,061 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,162,000 after acquiring an additional 4,658 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 970,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,405,000 after acquiring an additional 26,564 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 5.4% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 35,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 21.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 36,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,818,000 after purchasing an additional 6,483 shares during the period. 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.