Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Increases Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 10.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 401,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 36,886 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $7,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 17.0% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 433,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,505,000 after acquiring an additional 62,826 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 77.0% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 31,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 13,765 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 170.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 126,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 79,947 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 98.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 89,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,000 after purchasing an additional 44,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 25.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 186,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,821,000 after purchasing an additional 38,131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

HTGC stock opened at $18.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.39. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.14 and a 12 month high of $21.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The firm had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.18%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HTGC shares. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hercules Capital news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. This trade represents a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.