15,178 Shares in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Bought by Chung Wu Investment Group LLC

Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,078,000 after purchasing an additional 323,028 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 311,167 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $2,324,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 valued at $7,667,000 after acquiring an additional 84,780 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,815,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,558,000 after acquiring an additional 77,869 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $19.05 on Thursday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.95 and a twelve month high of $22.04. 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 capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.80.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

About Hercules Capital

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.