Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target Raised to $20.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its target price hoisted by JMP Securities from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

HTGC has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Compass Point cut shares of Hercules Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.43 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.17. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $12.40 and a 12 month high of $19.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 69.98% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $121.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Hercules Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 28.9% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 806 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

About Hercules Capital

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.