Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Shares Acquired by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,930 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.07% of Hercules Capital worth $2,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HTGC. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Hercules Capital by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 138,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 27,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 92,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 30,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $17.40 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.97. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $22.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The firm had revenue of $102.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 120.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HTGC. Compass Point boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.92.

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.