Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,352 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.96. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $102.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.43 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 45.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.73%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 120.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos acquired 5,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on HTGC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note 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 on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Hercules Capital Company 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.