AXQ Capital LP Takes Position in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HLI. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the third quarter valued at about $92,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 21,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,443,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 2.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,204,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 81.5% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 601,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,974,000 after acquiring an additional 149,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HLI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $180.00 to $179.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $229.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $192.00 price target (up previously from $170.00) on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Houlihan Lokey from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.00.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Performance

Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $162.74 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $173.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.34. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.14 and a fifty-two week high of $192.10. The company has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Houlihan Lokey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Houlihan Lokey’s payout ratio is presently 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.