Gayle Crowell Acquires 6,000 Shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Stock

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Director Gayle Crowell bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.77 per share, with a total value of $106,620.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 78,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,398,978.79. The trade was a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $18.09 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.46 and a 200-day moving average of $18.41. The company has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 0.95. 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 one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $138.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Hercules Capital during the second quarter worth about $522,447,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,930,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,567,000 after acquiring an additional 55,885 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,253,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,909,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,130,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,714,000 after acquiring an additional 143,042 shares during the period. Finally, Muzinich & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 34.5% in the third quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 992,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,774,000 after acquiring an additional 254,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HTGC. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

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.