Credit Agricole S A Raises Stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 46.2% during the first quarter, owning approximately $10.13 million worth of the company's stock.
• Hercules Capital recently announced a dividend increase, raising its quarterly payment from $0.40 to $0.47, yielding about 9.8% on an annualized basis.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and indicating a year-over-year revenue growth of 10%.

Credit Agricole S A raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 46.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 527,236 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 166,671 shares during the quarter. Credit Agricole S A owned 0.30% of Hercules Capital worth $10,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.1% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,874,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,218,000 after acquiring an additional 59,241 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings 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 worth $28,265,000 after buying an additional 946,700 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,130,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,714,000 after buying an additional 143,042 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings 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 worth $19,002,000 after buying an additional 488,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 788,353 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,839,000 after buying an additional 23,783 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 178,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,227. The business's 50-day moving average price is $18.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.64. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $129.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. Hercules Capital's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a $0.47 dividend. This is a boost from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HTGC. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.58.

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.