Stephens Inc. AR Takes $242,000 Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 177.2% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 345.4% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 45.6% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the third quarter worth approximately $114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HTGC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $21.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.95 and a 1-year high of $21.78. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.59.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The business had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. Research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

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.