Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Short Interest Down 16.1% in February

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,590,000 shares, a decline of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 5,470,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,078,000 after purchasing an additional 323,028 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,815,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,558,000 after purchasing an additional 77,869 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 205.7% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,406,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,265,000 after purchasing an additional 946,700 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,018,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,456,000 after purchasing an additional 62,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 945,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,002,000 after purchasing an additional 488,172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HTGC shares. Compass Point boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

HTGC traded up $0.12 on Thursday, hitting $19.11. 399,564 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,000,462. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $16.95 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.36 and its 200-day moving average is $19.79.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.84%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 99.38%.

About Hercules Capital

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.