Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,414,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 381,318 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $40,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 99,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 44,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 18,392 shares during the last quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 14,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 2,432 shares during the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $333,000. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $494,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HTGC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Compass Point cut shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $19.13 on Wednesday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.40 and a 1-year high of $19.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $18.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.09.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $122.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Hercules Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.04%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

Hercules Capital 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.