Sharpepoint LLC Buys Shares of 65,125 Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Sharpepoint LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 65,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,308,000. Hercules Capital accounts for about 1.2% of Sharpepoint LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HTGC. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $14,871,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,078,000 after buying an additional 323,028 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 311,167 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,281,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 443,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,902,000 after acquiring an additional 150,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on HTGC. UBS Group lowered their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.25.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE:HTGC opened at $17.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $22.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 1.13.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced 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 business had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is presently 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.