Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Short Interest Up 5.4% in October

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,480,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the September 30th total of 6,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 950,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.8 days.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos bought 1,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.03 per share, for a total transaction of $28,992.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,202.39. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hercules Capital news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos bought 1,608 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.03 per share, with a total value of $28,992.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,613 shares in the company, valued at $101,202.39. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. Graypoint LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 2.6% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 140,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,754,000 after buying an additional 3,533 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,115,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,873,000 after acquiring an additional 290,579 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 303,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,968,000 after buying an additional 6,671 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 15,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.26 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $15.14 and a 1 year high of $21.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.64. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.39.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. The company had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 65.07%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.97%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HTGC shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.83.

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.