Wintrust Investments LLC Purchases 1,582 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Wintrust Investments LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 10.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 323,028 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of 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. purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $3,281,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,324,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 84,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $18.16 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.95 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.36%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 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.