Invesco Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. $HTGC

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. by 17.1%, leaving it with 77,699 shares valued at approximately $1.49 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Hercules Capital, with Ameriprise Financial now owning 325,912 shares valued at $6.55 million.
• Hercules Capital recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per share, raising its annual yield to 9.6%, in contrast to the previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 15,981 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.'s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $1,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.4% in the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 165,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,181,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 33,289 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.7% in the first quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 114,664 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. 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 research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. Five investment 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.58.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE HTGC traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $19.24. 235,395 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,179,861. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.60. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.65 and a 1-year 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 released 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 business had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $129.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.8%. This is a boost from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. 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.