Analysts Set Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Target Price at $18.00

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

HTGC has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Compass Point lowered Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $18.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $12.40 and a 12 month high of $18.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.23 and a 200-day moving average of $16.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.34.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $122.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.48 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 73.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.40%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.26%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 220.3% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 2,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,105.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 3,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 3,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.