Stifel Financial Corp Buys 47,587 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 420,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,587 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $8,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 177.2% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 239.0% during the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 345.4% in the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 199.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 3,079 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTGC has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.25.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $17.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.50. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The business had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.47%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

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.