Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Shares Bought by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,386 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 345.4% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 45.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 199.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTGC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $18.16 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 quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.50 and a 200 day moving average of $19.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 1.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $124.09 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.36%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.38%.

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.