Houlihan Lokey downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded Houlihan Lokey (HLI) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $200, up from $171. After this year’s outperformance, the firm sees further upside across its M&A boutique coverage as prior bull case plays out and firms execute on the M&A rebound, the analyst tells investors. However, its downgrade is relative to its Attractive-rated coverage, as the firm sees only 8% upside in its new base case and sees more upside in names skewed to large cap M&A, the analyst noted.