Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 37,070 Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI - Free Report) by 64.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,458 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 37,070 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $3,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 39,574.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 686,375 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,108,500,000 after acquiring an additional 684,645 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey during the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,047,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,041,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $180,815,000 after purchasing an additional 573,745 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in Houlihan Lokey in the 1st quarter valued at $81,420,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Houlihan Lokey by 731.6% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 347,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $60,341,000 after buying an additional 305,685 shares in the last quarter. 78.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Houlihan Lokey Trading Up 0.9%

HLI stock traded up $1.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $190.92. The stock had a trading volume of 446,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 359,318. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80 and a beta of 0.83. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.99 and a 52 week high of $192.31.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.35. Houlihan Lokey had a return on equity of 21.61% and a net margin of 16.73%. The firm had revenue of $666.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $628.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from Houlihan Lokey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Houlihan Lokey's payout ratio is presently 41.24%.

Insider Transactions at Houlihan Lokey

In related news, Chairman Irwin Gold sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.81, for a total transaction of $914,050.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Scott L. Beiser sold 8,008 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.71, for a total transaction of $1,431,109.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,508 shares of company stock valued at $2,431,670. 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.