Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Position in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. $HLI

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 21.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,624 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $22,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 194.9% during the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 546,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,314,000 after acquiring an additional 361,085 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the second quarter worth about $220,000. Cynosure Group LLC raised its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 2,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 81,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,748,000 after purchasing an additional 13,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HLI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $232.00 to $226.00 and set a “moderate buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $192.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $230.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.43.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Up 0.1%

Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $175.40 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $189.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.37. The company has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.53 and a beta of 0.88. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.99 and a twelve month high of $211.78.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 23.75% and a net margin of 16.46%.The company had revenue of $659.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $639.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

Insider Activity at Houlihan Lokey

In other Houlihan Lokey news, General Counsel Christopher M. Crain sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $98,110.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Irwin Gold sold 6,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.75, for a total value of $1,380,930.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 22.83% 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.