Wealthfront Advisers LLC Takes Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 48,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HTGC. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 21,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 2,385 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 158,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,176,000 after buying an additional 20,156 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $305,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 94,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 11,279 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 199.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTGC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.54 on Friday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.95 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.79.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The firm had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

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.