Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) Rating Lowered to Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $171.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.75% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on HLI. 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $149.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.40.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Performance

Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $177.38 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.27 and a beta of 0.67. Houlihan Lokey has a 1 year low of $112.17 and a 1 year high of $192.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $176.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.99.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $574.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $537.93 million. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 19.29%. Houlihan Lokey’s revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Houlihan Lokey

In other news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were 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 owns 6,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,109,496.08. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 23.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Houlihan Lokey

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLI. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,844,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $619,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $687,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 399,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $454,000. Institutional investors own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Houlihan Lokey Company Profile

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.