GAMMA Investing LLC Has $686,000 Stake in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI - Free Report) by 145.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,520 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 4th quarter valued at $143,559,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Houlihan Lokey in the fourth quarter valued at about $114,047,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,041,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $180,815,000 after buying an additional 573,745 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Houlihan Lokey during the first quarter worth about $81,420,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 731.6% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 347,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $60,341,000 after buying an additional 305,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $192.00 target price (up previously from $159.00) on shares of Houlihan Lokey in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.20.

Houlihan Lokey Price Performance

HLI traded up $1.76 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $183.31. The company had a trading volume of 512,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,418. The business's fifty day moving average price is $173.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.16. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.48 and a 12 month high of $192.10. The company has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 0.83.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $666.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $628.25 million. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 16.73% and a return on equity of 21.61%. The firm's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost from Houlihan Lokey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Houlihan Lokey's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Scott L. Beiser sold 8,008 shares of Houlihan Lokey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.71, for a total value of $1,431,109.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Irwin Gold sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.81, for a total transaction of $914,050.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,508 shares of company stock valued at $2,431,670 in the last quarter. 23.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Houlihan Lokey 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.