Oppenheimer Lowers Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) to Market Perform

Posted by MarketBeat News on Aug 2nd, 2022

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $15.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $18.00. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Hercules Capital’s Q3 2022 earnings at $0.36 EPS, Q4 2022 earnings at $0.37 EPS, Q1 2023 earnings at $0.37 EPS, Q2 2023 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $0.39 EPS and Q4 2023 earnings at $0.39 EPS.

HTGC has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $15.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 28th. TheStreet downgraded Hercules Capital from a b rating to a c- rating in a research report on Monday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Hercules Capital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, June 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hercules Capital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $17.66.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.4 %

HTGC stock opened at $16.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.36. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $12.61 and a 52 week high of $19.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.84, a quick ratio of 3.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $72.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.41 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 4.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 8th. This is an increase from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 1,200.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hercules Capital

In related news, Director Thomas J. Fallon acquired 10,000 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $14.88 per share, for a total transaction of $148,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 61,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $916,667.52. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.6% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,117,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,569,000 after purchasing an additional 73,987 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 26.9% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,871,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,826,000 after acquiring an additional 396,491 shares in the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the first quarter worth about $16,938,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.4% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 882,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,947,000 after acquiring an additional 12,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the first quarter worth about $14,390,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.51% of the company’s stock.

About Hercules Capital

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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.