Does Hercules Capital (HTGC) Pay a Dividend? (2026)
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
Yes. Hercules Capital (HTGC) pays a dividend yielding about 10.64% as of September 2026, paid quarterly, four times a year. The latest payment on record was $0.47 per share, ex-dividend August 11, 2026. The forward annual rate is roughly $1.88 per share, about $1064 a year on a $10,000 position before tax. The payout takes about 93% of earnings. Figures are approximate and dated; verify the current number with your broker.
Does Hercules Capital (HTGC) pay a dividend?
Yes. Hercules Capital distributes a dividend yielding roughly 10.64% as of September 2026, paid quarterly, four times a year. The most recent payment on record was $0.47 per share, with an ex-dividend date of August 11, 2026. Annualized, that is about $1.88 per share.
Hercules generated record total investment income of about $141.5 million in Q1 2026, up roughly 22.5% year over year, with net investment income near $0.48 per share. The stock recently traded around the mid-teens, down double digits year to date, at roughly a 30% premium to net asset value, which is well below the 70%-plus premium seen in 2024. Its high yield reflects both the floating-rate portfolio and the market's pricing of venture-credit risk.
HTGC dividend at a glance
| 2026-08-11 | $0.47 |
| 2026-05-14 | $0.47 |
| 2026-02-25 | $0.47 |
| 2025-11-12 | $0.47 |
| 2025-08-12 | $0.47 |
| 2025-05-13 | $0.47 |
HTGC dividend data as of September 2026, sourced from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. Yield moves with price and payout; confirm the current dividend and ex-date with HTGC's investor relations page before relying on it.
Is the HTGC dividend covered?
Hercules Capital paid out about 93% of its earnings as dividends, so the dividend absorbs nearly all earnings. There is little cushion at that level: if earnings fall, the company has to fund the payout from cash or debt, or cut it. Check the cash-flow coverage and the trend in earnings before treating the yield as dependable.
Coverage is the question worth asking before yield. A dividend is only as good as the earnings behind it, and the highest yields on any screen are often the ones closest to being cut. Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser.
How the HTGC dividend has changed
The latest payment of $0.47 per share compares with $0.47 in the equivalent payment a year earlier (August 12, 2025). That is a change of 0.0% over the year.
A single year says little on its own. What dividend-growth investors track is the multi-year record: whether the payout has risen through a downturn, and whether the raises have kept pace with inflation. That record is on HTGC's investor relations page.
What HTGC's dividend means for you
- Income: about $1064 a year per $10,000 invested, before tax.
- Yield is a ratio, not a payment: it rises when the share price falls. A jump in yield without a raise in the dividend means the stock got cheaper, which may or may not be good news.
- Total return: for HTGC the dividend is one part of return and price change is usually the larger part. Compare total return, not yield, when weighing it against another holding.
- Reinvest or take the cash: a DRIP compounds the position automatically; taking the cash gives you income now. Either way it is taxable in a taxable account.
- If you want more yield: dedicated dividend names and funds target higher, steadier payouts. See the best dividend stocks and best dividend ETFs.
How HTGC dividends are taxed
Dividends from US common stock are usually qualified, which means they are taxed at long-term capital-gains rates rather than as ordinary income, as long as you held the shares for more than 60 days in the 121-day window around the ex-dividend date. Distributions from REITs and BDCs generally do not qualify and are taxed as ordinary income. Inside an IRA, Roth, or 401(k) none of this applies while the money stays in the account. Full detail is in how dividends are taxed. This is not tax advice.
The bottom line on the HTGC dividend
Hercules Capital (HTGC) pays about 10.64%, or roughly $1.88 per share a year. That is a genuine income yield, so the payout is a real part of the case for holding it, and the coverage question above is the one to answer first. For the full picture see the HTGC guide. Walnut can show how HTGC fits your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Investing in Hercules Capital with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how HTGC fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
Does Hercules Capital (HTGC) pay a dividend?
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Yes. Hercules Capital pays a dividend yielding roughly 10.64% as of September 2026, paid quarterly, four times a year. The most recent payment on record was $0.47 per share with an ex-dividend date of August 11, 2026. That works out to a forward annual rate of about $1.88 per share. Yields move with the share price, so verify the current figure with your broker or HTGC's investor relations page before relying on it.
What is HTGC's dividend yield?
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About 10.64% as of September 2026. On a $10,000 position that is roughly $1064 of dividend income a year before tax. For context, the S&P 500 yields around 1.2%, so HTGC yields meaningfully more than the broad market. A higher yield is not automatically better: it can reflect a falling share price as easily as a generous payout, so it is worth checking why the number is what it is.
How often does HTGC pay its dividend?
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Hercules Capital pays quarterly, four times a year. The most recent payment on record had an ex-dividend date of August 11, 2026. To receive a given payment you have to own the shares before the ex-dividend date, not on the pay date. Confirm upcoming dates on HTGC's investor relations page, because boards can change both the amount and the timing.
When is HTGC's ex-dividend date?
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The ex-dividend date recorded in our September 2026 data pull is August 11, 2026. The ex-dividend date is the cutoff: buy on or after it and the seller keeps that payment, not you. Buying just before the ex-date to capture the dividend does not create free money, because the share price typically drops by roughly the dividend amount when the stock goes ex. Check HTGC's investor relations page for the next confirmed date.
Has Hercules Capital raised its dividend recently?
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Not in the last year. The latest payment of $0.47 per share is unchanged from the $0.47 paid a year earlier. A flat dividend is not necessarily a warning sign, but it does mean the income is losing ground to inflation.
Is HTGC's dividend safe?
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Hercules Capital paid out about 93% of its earnings as dividends, so the dividend absorbs nearly all earnings. There is little cushion at that level: if earnings fall, the company has to fund the payout from cash or debt, or cut it. Check the cash-flow coverage and the trend in earnings before treating the yield as dependable. Nobody can guarantee a dividend: boards cut them, and a high yield is sometimes the market pricing in exactly that. Walnut is not an investment adviser and this is not a recommendation.
How much would I earn in dividends from a $10,000 position in HTGC?
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At a yield of about 10.64%, roughly $1064 a year before tax, spread across 4 payments. That is a snapshot, not a promise: the amount changes when the company changes its payout, and your yield on cost is fixed at the price you paid, not at today's price.
Are HTGC dividends qualified for tax purposes?
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Dividends from US common stock are usually qualified, meaning they are taxed at the lower long-term capital-gains rates, provided you held the shares for more than 60 days in the 121-day window around the ex-dividend date. Distributions from REITs, BDCs, and some pass-through structures are generally taxed as ordinary income instead. In an IRA or Roth the question does not arise. See our guide to how dividends are taxed. This is not tax advice.
Should I reinvest HTGC dividends?
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Most brokers offer automatic reinvestment (a DRIP) that puts each HTGC payment straight back into more shares, often fractional ones. Reinvesting compounds the position and is the standard choice when you do not need the cash yet. Taking the cash makes sense when you are spending the income or want to direct it elsewhere. Either way the dividend is taxable in a taxable account in the year it is paid, even if you never see the money.
Why does HTGC have such a high dividend yield?
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As a BDC, Hercules must distribute most of its taxable income to shareholders, and its portfolio of floating-rate venture loans earns yields averaging near 13.9%. That combination has recently produced a dividend yield around 12%, including a base distribution plus a supplemental.
Is the HTGC dividend well covered?
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In Q1 2026, net investment income of roughly $0.48 per share covered the base cash distribution about 120%, and nonaccruals were near 0.1% of the portfolio at fair value. Coverage has been strong, though a sharp drop in rates or a rise in credit losses could pressure it.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Dividend figures on this page come from a September 2026 data pull and are approximate; verify the current yield, amount, schedule, and policy with HTGC's investor relations page or your broker before acting on them.