Muzinich & Co. Inc. Buys 36,886 Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 408,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 36,886 shares during the period. Hercules Capital comprises approximately 5.7% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Hercules Capital worth $8,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Hercules Capital by 12.7% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 45,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 5,134 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 2,770 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 141,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. MAS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 72.8% during the 1st quarter. MAS Advisors LLC now owns 21,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 9,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 20.3% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 76,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 12,878 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HTGC. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In related news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. This trade represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE HTGC opened at $18.92 on Friday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a one year low of $15.14 and a one year high of $21.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. The company had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.15%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.21%.

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.