Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Shares Acquired by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 323,028 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 2.12% of Hercules Capital worth $69,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the second quarter worth about $229,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 18.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 6,049 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.8% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 8.1% during the third quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 137,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 10,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 100.0% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 28,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 14,498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Hercules Capital stock opened at $21.10 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.62. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.95 and a 1-year high of $21.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 1.35.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.91%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. 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 Monday, January 6th.

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.