Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 383 Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 36,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,818,000 after purchasing an additional 6,483 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $63,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,615,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,276,000 after purchasing an additional 21,106 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the fourth quarter worth $5,133,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised 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 worth $1,551,000 after buying an additional 9,433 shares during the last quarter. 78.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $200.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Houlihan Lokey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $192.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.40.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Performance

Shares of Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $180.16 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $179.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.69. The company has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.84 and a beta of 0.69. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a one year low of $119.28 and a one year high of $192.10.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.13. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 19.29%. On average, analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.51%.

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.