Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC Shares Sold by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,356 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Hercules Capital worth $2,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter worth about $522,447,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,930,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,567,000 after purchasing an additional 55,885 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,253,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,909,000 after purchasing an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,130,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,714,000 after purchasing an additional 143,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 843,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,412,000 after purchasing an additional 247,862 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gayle A. Crowell acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.77 per share, with a total value of $106,620.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 78,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,398,978.79. This represents a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.42.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

NYSE HTGC opened at $18.10 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $22.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.02%.

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.