Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Increases Stock Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 371,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,222 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $6,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HTGC. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,580,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,015,000 after acquiring an additional 59,263 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,033,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,389,000 after acquiring an additional 116,684 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,567.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,345,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,008 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,006,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,524,000 after acquiring an additional 23,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Melia Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,922,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HTGC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Compass Point lowered shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.01. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $12.40 and a one year high of $18.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 2.75.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $122.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.48 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.26%.

Hercules Capital Profile

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.