Van ECK Associates Corp Has $40.25 Million Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,414,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 381,318 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 1.60% of Hercules Capital worth $40,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 133.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 2,164 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 294.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 3,571 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Compass Point downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.5 %

Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.13 on Wednesday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.40 and a 1-year high of $19.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $18.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $122.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.26%.

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.