Wells Fargo & Company MN Grows Stock Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 670,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,836 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $13,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth $540,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $2,156,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 389,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in Hercules Capital by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 153,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,093,000 after buying an additional 13,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 301.1% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 12,302 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTGC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hercules Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.70.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

HTGC opened at $17.12 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.35 and a 200 day moving average of $19.64. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. The firm had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.98%. Hercules Capital’s dividend 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.