Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Hercules Capital Put Options (NYSE:HTGC)

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 8,000 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 886% compared to the typical daily volume of 811 put options.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 511.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,042,000 after buying an additional 44,386 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.3% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 406,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,993,000 after acquiring an additional 34,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,667,000 after purchasing an additional 84,780 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 493,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,921,000 after purchasing an additional 60,776 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 10.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 401,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,878,000 after purchasing an additional 36,886 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $19.05 on Thursday. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $16.95 and a 12-month high of $22.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.35.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The company had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. Analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on HTGC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.40.

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.