Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.08.

Several brokerages have weighed in on HTGC. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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, UBS Group lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $19.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.93. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $22.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.88.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.49 per share, for a total transaction of $104,922.51. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 79.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 25,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 4,631 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 203,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,715,000 after acquiring an additional 3,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 621,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,362,000 after acquiring an additional 89,770 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.