Millennium Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 1,834.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 429,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 406,944 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.26% of Hercules Capital worth $8,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HTGC. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised 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. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $17.40 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $22.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.19.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $102.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $125.43 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In other Hercules Capital news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.