Analysts Set Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) PT at $14.93

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.93.

HTGC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, March 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $10.50 in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Hercules Capital from $15.00 to $14.50 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2,200.0% during the third quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 206.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. BDO Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 76.4% during the second quarter. BDO Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.77% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Hercules Capital stock opened at $11.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.43. Hercules Capital has a one year low of $10.94 and a one year high of $19.09. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $14.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.79.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $100.19 million during 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 1st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.11%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 205.27%.

About Hercules Capital

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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.