Brookstone Capital Management Trims Position in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. $HLI

Brookstone Capital Management decreased its stake in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Houlihan Lokey by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,306,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $857,017,000 after buying an additional 41,030 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Houlihan Lokey by 5.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 415,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,143,000 after buying an additional 22,553 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Houlihan Lokey by 3.0% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 402,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,046,000 after buying an additional 11,709 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Houlihan Lokey by 12.1% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 344,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,654,000 after buying an additional 37,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in Houlihan Lokey in the first quarter worth about $46,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HLI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Houlihan Lokey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Houlihan Lokey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $230.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Houlihan Lokey currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.43.

Insider Activity at Houlihan Lokey

In related news, General Counsel Christopher M. Crain sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $98,110.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Paul Eric Siegert sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.95, for a total value of $7,998,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 47,311 shares of company stock valued at $9,477,040. Insiders own 22.83% of the company’s stock.

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Houlihan Lokey stock opened at $199.49 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $198.49 and a 200 day moving average of $184.82. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.99 and a 12 month high of $211.78. The firm has a market cap of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.58 and a beta of 0.87.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.45. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 23.75% and a net margin of 16.46%.The company had revenue of $605.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $573.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Houlihan Lokey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.40%.

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.