Comerica Bank Boosts Stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC

Comerica Bank raised its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 25.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 109,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,930 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 325,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,548,000 after purchasing an additional 28,812 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 93.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 102,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 49,606 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 128,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE HTGC opened at $19.34 on Thursday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.52.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.47 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This is a positive change from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 105.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HTGC shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.58.

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.