PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 5,367 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 296,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,367 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $4,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 59,263 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,414,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,254,000 after purchasing an additional 381,318 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,567.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,006,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,524,000 after buying an additional 23,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Melia Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter worth $10,922,000. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.9 %

HTGC stock opened at $19.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.47, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.84 and a 52 week high of $20.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.79 and a 200 day moving average of $17.56.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 69.98%. The firm had revenue of $121.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.89%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 72.73%.

Hercules Capital Profile

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.