Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stake in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. $HLI

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,736 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $15,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,640,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Houlihan Lokey by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 174,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,868,000 after acquiring an additional 14,483 shares in the last quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda boosted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 45.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda now owns 72,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,783,000 after purchasing an additional 22,400 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 639.9% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 44,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,153,000 after purchasing an additional 38,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,305,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,089,260,000 after purchasing an additional 13,750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HLI. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Houlihan Lokey from $210.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group set a $160.00 target price on Houlihan Lokey in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $177.00 to $172.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $205.00 to $193.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $191.29.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE HLI opened at $139.21 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.01. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.41 and a 52 week high of $211.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.95.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $635.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $679.22 million. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 22.88% and a net margin of 16.26%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 8.54 EPS for the current year.

Houlihan Lokey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from Houlihan Lokey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Houlihan Lokey

In other news, Chairman Scott L. Beiser sold 6,265 shares of Houlihan Lokey stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total transaction of $941,378.90. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 6,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,378.90. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Christopher M. Crain sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.40, for a total transaction of $71,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,700. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 22.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Houlihan Lokey Company Profile

Houlihan Lokey, Inc is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded in 1972 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company specializes in advisory services across a broad range of transaction types and financial matters. Since its founding, Houlihan Lokey has grown to serve corporations, financial sponsors, and government entities worldwide, providing expertise in complex and high-stakes engagements.

The firm’s core service offerings include mergers and acquisitions advisory, capital markets advisory, financial restructuring and distressed M&A, and valuation and fairness opinions.