Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC Shares Newly Bought by SMH Capital Advisors Inc.

SMH Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 59,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,007,000. Hercules Capital makes up approximately 3.8% of SMH Capital Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,877,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,150,000 after acquiring an additional 713,653 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 3.0% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,777,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,521,000 after purchasing an additional 110,177 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the second quarter worth approximately $26,523,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 9.5% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 1,101,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,521,000 after purchasing an additional 95,382 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,047,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,604,000 after purchasing an additional 19,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HTGC shares. UBS Group raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $15.50 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.89.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $16.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.00 and its 200-day moving average is $16.17. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.70 and a 52-week high of $19.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 67.68%. The business had revenue of $135.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This is a decrease from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 86.02%.

Hercules Capital Profile

Hercules Capital, Inc is a business development company and specialty finance firm that provides debt financing to innovative, growth-oriented companies. The company focuses primarily on venture capital-backed businesses in the technology, life sciences, and sustainable and specialty technology sectors.

Hercules Capital offers secured loans and other forms of growth capital designed to support companies through various stages of development, including expansion, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and initial public offerings.