North Star Investment Management Corp. Increases Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HTGC. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Estabrook Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 239.0% during the fourth quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 199.6% during 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 during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $17.97 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.93. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $22.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.60 and a 200 day moving average of $19.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The business had revenue of $102.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $125.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Hercules Capital’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos acquired 5,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.49 per share, for a total transaction of $104,922.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.