Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) reported higher fiscal 2026 revenue and earnings growth, while management used the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call to push back against concerns about private markets and highlight momentum in its evergreen fund platform.
John Oh, Hamilton Lane’s head of shareholder relations, said the firm ended fiscal 2026 with a total asset footprint of $1 trillion, up 9% year over year. Assets under management were $142 billion, up $4 billion, or 3%, from the prior year, while assets under advisement reached $905 billion, up more than $86 billion, or 10%.
Total management and advisory fees for the year were $584 million, up 14% from fiscal 2025. Total fee-related revenue, which includes management fees and fee-related performance revenue, rose 20% to $687 million. Fee-related earnings increased 25% to $345 million.
The company reported fiscal 2026 GAAP earnings per share of $5.92, based on $249 million of GAAP net income. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $5.90, based on $321 million of adjusted net income.
Oh also said Hamilton Lane’s board approved an 11% increase in the company’s annual fiscal dividend to $2.40 per share, or $0.60 per share per quarter. He said the increase marked the ninth consecutive annual double-digit percentage dividend increase since the firm went public in 2017.
Management Says Private Markets Are Improving
Co-Chief Executive Officer Erik Hirsch said industry headlines have overstated concerns about private markets, arguing that Hamilton Lane’s data show a healthier environment emerging across several asset classes.
Hirsch said private equity is moving from a slower period into a better dealmaking and exit environment. He cited global buyout deal volume rising more than 40% in 2025 and total exit value increasing nearly 50%, which he described as the second-best year on record and close to the 2021 peak.
He also said private credit fundamentals remain solid, pointing to disciplined leverage, “benign” defaults and attractive spreads over public loans. Hirsch said equity contributions averaged about 50% in 2025 compared with about 33% in 2007, and said the default rate remains below 2%.
Hirsch highlighted venture and growth equity as a way to access artificial intelligence, data infrastructure, defense innovation and next-generation software opportunities, many of which he said are still developing in private markets. He also said secondaries, infrastructure and real estate continue to offer opportunities, while emphasizing that manager selection remains critical because performance dispersion across private-market strategies is wide and persistent.
Evergreen Funds Remain a Key Growth Driver
Hamilton Lane ended the fiscal year with $82 billion of fee-earning AUM, up $9 billion, or 13%, from the prior year. Hirsch said growth continued to be driven largely by specialized funds, particularly evergreen products. Specialized fund fee-earning AUM ended fiscal 2026 at $41 billion, up $8 billion, or 24%, over the last 12 months.
Hirsch said Hamilton Lane’s evergreen platform produced more than $1 billion of net inflows during the quarter, despite what he described as a difficult industry backdrop for evergreen funds in calendar first quarter, especially in private credit. He said no Hamilton Lane evergreen fund had to impose gates, and no individual evergreen fund ended the quarter in a net outflow position.
Total evergreen AUM ended the quarter at more than $17.5 billion, representing 64% year-over-year growth. Hirsch said January and February were strong months, with net subscriptions of $471 million and $591 million, respectively. March turned slightly negative, with $17 million of net outflows, as gross redemptions increased and gross sales slowed.
For April, Hirsch said the company expected more than $265 million in aggregate net inflows across the evergreen product suite. In response to an analyst question from KBW’s Alex Bond, Hirsch said he would be “very disappointed” if April became the new run-rate reference point, adding that the company’s goal is to return to and exceed January and February levels.
Hirsch said institutional investors now represent more than 25% of capital flowing into Hamilton Lane’s evergreen products. He cited allocations from pensions, insurance companies, family offices and other institutional clients, including a private credit mandate from a large U.S. public pension plan. Part of that mandate seeded Hamilton Lane’s new U.S. Credit Evergreen interval fund, while the rest was deployed in a separate account.
In April, Hamilton Lane launched the Hamilton Lane Credit Income Fund, its 12th evergreen fund and its first daily subscription and daily priced offering. Hirsch said the fund focuses on senior private credit and launched with nearly $325 million committed by seed investors, including public pension plans, multi-employer union retirement pension plans and Hamilton Lane’s balance sheet capital.
Secondaries Strategy and Fundraising in Focus
Hirsch spent a significant portion of the call discussing the secondaries market, where investors buy and sell existing private-market fund interests. He said secondary transactions often occur at discounts to net asset value because sellers are seeking liquidity in an illiquid market, but argued those transaction prices do not determine the value of the underlying assets.
Hirsch said Hamilton Lane committed nearly $5.5 billion to secondaries in calendar 2025 while turning down nearly 99% of the total dollar deal flow it reviewed. In response to UBS analyst Michael Brown, Hirsch said that selectivity was not primarily about competition but about asset quality, manager quality and price.
Hamilton Lane has launched fundraising for its seventh secondary fund and second venture product, and Hirsch said initial closes for both are expected in the coming months. The company has also launched fundraising for its first GP-led secondary fund, with a first close expected before the end of calendar 2026.
Hirsch also updated investors on the firm’s sixth Equity Opportunities Fund, which focuses on direct equity investments alongside general partners. The fund has raised about $2.8 billion after additional closes through the first half of May, more than 35% larger than the prior vintage, he said.
CFO Details Revenue, Expenses and Buybacks
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Armbrister said management and advisory fees increased 14% for fiscal 2026 despite lower retroactive fees. Hamilton Lane received $3 million in retro fees in fiscal 2026, compared with nearly $21 million in fiscal 2025.
Specialized revenue increased $59 million, or 19%, driven primarily by a $7 billion increase in fee-earning AUM in the evergreen platform and more than $1 billion raised in the latest direct equity fund during fiscal 2026. Customized separate account revenue increased $7 million, or 5%, due to new accounts, client re-ups and continued investment activity.
Revenue from reporting, monitoring, data and analytics offerings increased by about $7 million, or 22%, as the company continued to grow its technology solutions business. Incentive fees totaled $175 million for the period, including fee-related performance revenue primarily from quarterly crystallization of performance fees for the U.S. Private Assets Evergreen Fund.
Armbrister said total expenses increased $38 million from the prior year. Compensation and benefits rose $25 million, mainly because of higher headcount and equity-based compensation. General and administrative expenses increased $13 million, driven largely by revenue-related expenses such as third-party commissions and platform fees tied to the U.S. evergreen product.
Fee-related earnings margin was 50% for fiscal 2026, up from 48% in the prior year. Armbrister said both fee-related earnings and margin benefited from fee-related performance revenue and management fee growth.
The company repurchased 199,000 shares during the quarter at a weighted average price of $100.43, spending about $20 million. Armbrister said the board increased Hamilton Lane’s repurchase authorization to allow up to $100 million of Class A common stock repurchases, less the approximately $20 million already spent, leaving about $80 million available.
Wealth Distribution and Liquidity Discussed in Q&A
Analysts asked several questions about Hamilton Lane’s wealth distribution strategy and evergreen liquidity. In response to JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington, Hirsch said several products are approaching what he views as “critical mass” of $1 billion or more, and the firm is in active dialogue with distribution partners.
Hirsch said Hamilton Lane has made several senior hires on the wealth side, generally from larger asset management firms, but added that the company has not yet seen much benefit from those hires because they are still being onboarded.
Asked by Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys about liquidity management in evergreen funds, Hirsch said the vehicles generate distributions and cash liquidity, maintain cash reserves and have lines of credit in place. He said the portfolios are highly diversified and that the firm continually models liquidity needs.
Hirsch closed the call by thanking investors and analysts for their engagement and support.
About Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE)
Hamilton Lane is a global private markets investment management firm specializing in the full spectrum of private equity and credit strategies. The company partners with institutional investors and wealth managers to design, implement and manage customized portfolios in primary fund investing, secondary market transactions and direct co-investment opportunities. By combining investment selection, portfolio construction and ongoing monitoring, Hamilton Lane seeks to optimize risk-adjusted returns across diverse private markets exposures.
Founded in 1991, Hamilton Lane has developed a track record of investment and advisory services in private markets.
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