Royce & Associates LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 122,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,226 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.18% of Houlihan Lokey worth $19,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HLI. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the first quarter valued at approximately $306,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,104,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $654,300,000 after acquiring an additional 29,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 193.9% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 46,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,899,000 after acquiring an additional 30,355 shares during the last quarter. 78.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HLI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $132.00 to $129.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $149.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $146.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $154.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.00.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

Shares of HLI stock opened at $184.05 on Friday. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.29 and a 1 year high of $190.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $166.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.50. The company has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.64 and a beta of 0.65.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 19.29%. The firm had revenue of $574.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.93 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. 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 given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is 46.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gillian Beth Zucker sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.49, for a total value of $30,498.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,582.49. This represents a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Christopher M. Crain sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.29, for a total transaction of $155,290.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,600 shares of company stock valued at $249,860 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 23.68% of the company’s stock.

Houlihan Lokey 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.