CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Lowers Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co trimmed its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,570 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.07% of Hercules Capital worth $2,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 177.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 239.0% during the 4th quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 199.6% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 86.6% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of HTGC opened at $17.96 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.13.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 analyst estimates of $124.09 million. On average, analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTGC has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.25.

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.