Barclays PLC Purchases New Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 71,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,427,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Keystone Financial Group bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $245,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its position in Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,018,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,456,000 after purchasing an additional 62,610 shares during the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 760,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,276,000 after purchasing an additional 16,786 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 138,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Estabrook Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 239.0% in the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HTGC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $17.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.35 and its 200 day moving average is $19.43. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $22.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. The company had revenue of $102.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.43 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.07%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.30%.

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.