Marshall Wace LLP Purchases Shares of 740,210 Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 740,210 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,871,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.46% of Hercules Capital as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HTGC. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 177.2% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 239.0% in the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 345.4% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 199.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,634 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HTGC shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point lifted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.25.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.96. 922,279 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,060,032. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $18.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.13. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The company had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.47%. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is 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.