Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $179.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $180.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on HLI. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $200.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Houlihan Lokey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.20.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 2.0 %

HLI stock opened at $157.49 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $174.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.99. Houlihan Lokey has a twelve month low of $121.81 and a twelve month high of $192.10. The stock has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 20.04%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.51%.

Institutional Trading of Houlihan Lokey

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 2,606 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 2,482.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after acquiring an additional 9,433 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 3.7% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,555,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Houlihan Lokey in the third quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 25.2% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $741,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the period. 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.