West Coast Financial LLC Sells 1,699 Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI)

West Coast Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI - Free Report) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,312 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,699 shares during the quarter. West Coast Financial LLC's holdings in Houlihan Lokey were worth $3,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HLI. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 36,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,818,000 after acquiring an additional 6,483 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Houlihan Lokey during the second quarter valued at about $619,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Houlihan Lokey by 2.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 399,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,768 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Houlihan Lokey in the 2nd quarter worth about $687,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Houlihan Lokey by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,615,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $255,276,000 after purchasing an additional 21,106 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Houlihan Lokey from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Houlihan Lokey from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Houlihan Lokey from $172.00 to $170.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Houlihan Lokey presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $173.40.

Houlihan Lokey Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Houlihan Lokey stock traded up $4.43 on Thursday, hitting $179.74. The stock had a trading volume of 417,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,444. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $179.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $163.41. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a one year low of $115.84 and a one year high of $192.10. The stock has a market cap of $12.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76 and a beta of 0.69.

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $574.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $537.93 million. Houlihan Lokey had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 19.29%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Houlihan Lokey, Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Houlihan Lokey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Houlihan Lokey's payout ratio is 46.63%.

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.