Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,190,000 shares, a decline of 5.3% from the December 31st total of 5,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTGC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 433,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 62,826 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 31,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 13,765 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 511.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 44,386 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 406,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 34,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.0% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $21.01. The company had a trading volume of 760,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,151. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 1.35. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $19.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.62. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $16.95 and a 12-month high of $21.78.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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.