Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) Shares Bought by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 731.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 347,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 305,685 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $60,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Houlihan Lokey by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,265,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $914,420,000 after purchasing an additional 98,495 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 84,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,615,000 after buying an additional 28,398 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Houlihan Lokey during the fourth quarter worth $2,188,000. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in Houlihan Lokey in the fourth quarter worth $335,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,180,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695 shares during the period. 78.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HLI shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of 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 lowered Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.00.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

Shares of HLI opened at $166.89 on Tuesday. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.14 and a 1-year high of $192.10. The stock has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.45.

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

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is 43.51%.

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.