Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) Cut to Hold (C+) at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) from a buy (b-) rating to a hold (c+) rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $168.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Hamilton Lane from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Hamilton Lane in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Hamilton Lane from $169.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.71.

Hamilton Lane Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:HLNE opened at $119.96 on Friday. Hamilton Lane has a 52 week low of $114.63 and a 52 week high of $203.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a current ratio of 4.32. The company has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $138.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.27.

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $196.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.96 million. Hamilton Lane had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 29.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hamilton Lane will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Hamilton Lane Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Hamilton Lane’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hamilton Lane news, major shareholder River 5 Ltd French sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.51, for a total value of $21,976,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 330,015 shares in the company, valued at $48,350,497.65. This trade represents a 31.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 22.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hamilton Lane

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLNE. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Hamilton Lane in the first quarter valued at $432,772,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Hamilton Lane in the first quarter valued at about $112,887,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hamilton Lane by 63.4% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,275,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,555,000 after purchasing an additional 494,637 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Hamilton Lane in the second quarter valued at about $46,641,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Hamilton Lane in the first quarter valued at about $24,334,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

About Hamilton Lane

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.