GWN Securities Inc. Buys Shares of 11,587 Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

GWN Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,438,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,078,000 after acquiring an additional 323,028 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 311,167 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,281,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,324,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 84,780 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HTGC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE HTGC opened at $18.84 on Tuesday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.95 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

Hercules Capital 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.