Pennington Partners & CO. LLC Makes New Investment in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 96,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,943,000. Hercules Capital makes up 1.0% of Pennington Partners & CO. LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC owned about 0.06% of Hercules Capital as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 177.2% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 239.0% in the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 345.4% during the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 199.6% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company's stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HTGC traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $17.36. 477,960 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,063,426. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $18.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.39. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.22%. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 120.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HTGC shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.