Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 88.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,204 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,097 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $69,078,000 after purchasing an additional 323,028 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 946,700 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,018,210 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,456,000 after acquiring an additional 62,610 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 106.7% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 945,849 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,002,000 after buying an additional 488,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 788,353 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,783 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTGC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Hercules Capital stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.97. 725,703 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,262. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock's fifty day moving average is $17.60 and its 200 day moving average is $19.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.93.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The company had revenue of $102.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.49 per share, for a total transaction of $104,922.51. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $209,180.40. This represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.