Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 11,279 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 94,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,279 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $1,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Hercules Capital by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,078,000 after acquiring an additional 323,028 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 311,167 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,324,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Hercules Capital by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,667,000 after acquiring an additional 84,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,815,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,558,000 after acquiring an additional 77,869 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.89 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.80. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.95 and a 52-week high of $22.04. 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 has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.40.

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.