HighTower Advisors LLC Has $1.23 Million Stock Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,489 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $1,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 2,067.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 353,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 336,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 198.9% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 5,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $19.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.47 and its 200-day moving average is $19.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 1.36. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.83 and a 52-week high of $21.78.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The business had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.98%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 79.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.90.

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.