Millennium Management LLC Acquires 406,944 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 1,834.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 429,125 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 406,944 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.26% of Hercules Capital worth $8,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 323,028 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,018,210 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,456,000 after purchasing an additional 62,610 shares during the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 760,359 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $15,276,000 after acquiring an additional 16,786 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $14,871,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Hercules Capital by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 670,674 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,474,000 after buying an additional 15,836 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.46. The company had a trading volume of 198,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,094,818. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $17.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.14. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.17%. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is presently 120.30%.

Insider Activity

In other Hercules Capital news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos acquired 5,999 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $209,180.40. This represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTGC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Hercules Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.92.

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.