Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 36,886 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Free Report) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 401,133 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 36,886 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.25% of Hercules Capital worth $7,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 15,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in Hercules Capital by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 16,997 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.3% during the second quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 28,028 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,319 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.6% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 55,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In other Hercules Capital news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Hercules Capital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Hercules Capital stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $19.08. 1,533,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 942,570. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.70. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.14 and a one year high of $21.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.39.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 65.07%. The business had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $125.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.06%. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is presently 79.21%.

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.