Sigma Planning Corp Grows Stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,898 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 10.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,815,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,558,000 after buying an additional 77,869 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 493,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,921,000 after acquiring an additional 60,776 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 442,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,895,000 after acquiring an additional 41,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Muzinich & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 9.9% in the third quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 408,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,020,000 after acquiring an additional 36,886 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.8 %

HTGC opened at $21.24 on Wednesday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.95 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 1.35.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. The company had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.85%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.38%.

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.