Simplicity Solutions LLC Acquires New Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Simplicity Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 36,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,580,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,015,000 after purchasing an additional 59,263 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,033,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,389,000 after purchasing an additional 116,684 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,567.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,345,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,008 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,136,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,030,000 after purchasing an additional 32,831 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,032,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,956,000 after buying an additional 17,433 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Compass Point lowered shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of HTGC opened at $18.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.34. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.40 and a 1 year high of $18.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 2.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.93.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $122.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.48 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.58%. 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.