Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Hercules Capital from $15.00 to $14.50 in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hercules Capital from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $10.50 in a research note on Monday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hercules Capital has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $14.93.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $11.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average is $14.33 and its 200-day moving average is $13.79. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $10.94 and a 1 year high of $19.09.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $100.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.34 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 31.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 1st. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 205.27%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 21,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 22,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 42,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 44,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. 23.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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Hercules is the largest non-bank lender to venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development in a broadly diversified variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. With over a decade of experience in venture debt, Hercules is uniquely positioned to quickly create innovative financing solutions that perfectly fit within a company’s existing capital structure and map to its business objectives.