Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

HLNE has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Hamilton Lane from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hamilton Lane from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.38.

Hamilton Lane Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:HLNE opened at $127.60 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.09. Hamilton Lane has a 12 month low of $124.10 and a 12 month high of $203.72. The company has a current ratio of 4.32, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 1.20.

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.33. Hamilton Lane had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 29.47%. The firm had revenue of $196.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.96 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Hamilton Lane will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Hamilton Lane Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 19th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Hamilton Lane’s payout ratio is currently 41.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hamilton Lane news, major shareholder River 5 Ltd French sold 150,000 shares of Hamilton Lane stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.51, for a total transaction of $21,976,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 330,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,350,497.65. The trade was a 31.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 22.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hamilton Lane

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Hamilton Lane during the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Hamilton Lane by 802.0% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 5,141 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Hamilton Lane by 54.7% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 20,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after buying an additional 7,314 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Hamilton Lane during the second quarter valued at approximately $671,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Hamilton Lane during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

Hamilton Lane Company Profile

Hamilton Lane Incorporated is a private equity firm specializing in early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, middle market, mature, mid-venture, bridge, buyout, distressed/vulture, loan, mezzanine in growth capital companies. It prefers to invest in energy, industrials, consumer discretionary, health care, real estate, information technology, utilities, and consumer services.