J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Takes $983,000 Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 51,195 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $983,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HTGC. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,036 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 443,114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,902,000 after acquiring an additional 150,136 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 301.1% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 12,302 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Hercules Capital by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 153,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,093,000 after purchasing an additional 13,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 389,280 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,821,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.3%

HTGC stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $19.43. 916,984 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 916,943. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.23 and a 200-day moving average of $18.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.93. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $102.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $125.43 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 45.23% and a return on equity of 16.84%. Hercules Capital's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, 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 Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is 120.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on HTGC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.