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

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.83.

Several brokerages have commented on HTGC. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE HTGC opened at $19.97 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 1.39. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $15.14 and a 52-week high of $21.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.70.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 65.07%. The business had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Hercules Capital in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 198.9% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 5,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.