Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Shares Acquired by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 106.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 945,849 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 488,172 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP owned 0.58% of Hercules Capital worth $19,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 138,364 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,259 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 27,417 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 92,447 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on HTGC shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Compass Point upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

NYSE HTGC traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $17.69. 221,731 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,088,522. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $17.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.17. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.97.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $102.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is 120.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.49 per share, for a total transaction of $104,922.51. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,180.40. The trade was a 100.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by 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.