Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC Shares Sold by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,013,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,028 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.58% of Hercules Capital worth $19,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $80,000. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.1%

HTGC stock opened at $19.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $22.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $137.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $129.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.7%. This is a positive change from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTGC. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.58.

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.