Muzinich & Co. Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 449,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,634 shares during the quarter. Hercules Capital comprises approximately 5.7% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Hercules Capital were worth $9,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $319,000. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $305,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 82,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 33,191 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial River Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 17,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $20.65 on Thursday. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.95 and a 12 month high of $22.04. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.73.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The business had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.09 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.11%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HTGC. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

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.