MQS Management LLC Makes New Investment in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HTGC. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Hercules Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 198.9% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 5,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.05 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 1.39. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.14 and a fifty-two week high of $21.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The company had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.08%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.