Inspire Investing LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Inspire Investing LLC lowered its stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 12.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,673 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $998,000. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $677,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in Hercules Capital by 1,920.8% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 221,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,078,000 after purchasing an additional 210,112 shares during the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth $1,465,000. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth $1,803,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

NYSE HTGC opened at $19.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.32. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.02 and a 12-month high of $21.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.03% and a net margin of 57.82%. The firm had revenue of $125.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.81%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 1,608 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.03 per share, for a total transaction of $28,992.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,613 shares in the company, valued at $101,202.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

Hercules Capital, Inc is a business development company. The firm specializing in providing venture debt, debt, senior secured loans, and growth capital to privately held venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development from startups to expansion stage including select publicly listed companies and select special opportunity lower middle market companies that require additional capital to fund acquisitions, recapitalizations and refinancing and established-stage companies.