Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 327,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,896 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Hercules Capital worth $6,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 511.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 44,386 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 28.0% in the third 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 period. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 493,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,921,000 after acquiring an additional 60,776 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 56.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,792 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 187.3% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 57,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 37,466 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC opened at $19.26 on Friday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.95 and a 12-month high of $22.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.79. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 1.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Research analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.76%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is presently 99.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hercules Capital 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.