Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 30,664 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 382,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,664 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned 0.21% of Hercules Capital worth $6,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC increased its position in Hercules Capital by 79.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 173.4% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital in the second quarter worth about $27,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.8%

HTGC opened at $17.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $138.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.95 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 51.46%.During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.1%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gayle A. Crowell purchased 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.77 per share, with a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 78,727 shares in the company, valued at $1,398,978.79. This trade represents a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTGC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. JMP Securities increased their price target on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hercules Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.42.

Hercules Capital Company 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.