Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Stake Boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 51.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 443,114 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 150,136 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.27% of Hercules Capital worth $8,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Hercules Capital by 10.4% during 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 during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 311,167 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth $3,281,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,324,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,667,000 after purchasing an additional 84,780 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company's stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.7 %

HTGC traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $17.53. 787,321 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,058,225. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $19.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.58. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 1.13. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49. The firm had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. As a group, analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.73%. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. Compass Point boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.25.

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.