Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 170.3% in the first quarter by acquiring an additional 212,325 shares, now holding a total of 336,988 shares worth $6,474,000.
• Hercules Capital reported a quarterly EPS of $0.50, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.47, with a revenue of $137.46 million, up 10% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47, reflecting a significant increase from the previous dividend of $0.40, resulting in an annualized yield of 9.8%.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 170.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,988 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 212,325 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Hercules Capital worth $6,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HTGC. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,629 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth $80,000. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTGC. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.58.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:HTGC traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.32. The company had a trading volume of 215,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,268. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.51. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 51.46%.The business had revenue of $137.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This is a boost from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.7%. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio is presently 105.96%.

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.