HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,841 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of 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 grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 1,909.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 327,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,579,000 after purchasing an additional 311,167 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $2,324,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.0% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.8% during 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. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Capital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of 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 issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.27. 883,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,004,040. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.80. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.95 and a 52-week high of $22.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

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

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.76%. 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.