Magnetar Financial LLC Buys New Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 16,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 177.2% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 345.4% during the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,086 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised 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 valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on HTGC. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Hercules Capital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment 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 company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Hercules Capital stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $19.59. The company had a trading volume of 842,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 997,452. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.29 and a 200-day moving average of $19.81. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.95 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 1.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49. The business had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.60%. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is 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.