Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to “Outperform” Rating

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $21.50 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $19.50.

HTGC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.90.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.1 %

Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. Hercules Capital has a fifty-two week low of $15.32 and a fifty-two week high of $21.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.65.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.88%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 963.9% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 8,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 7,769 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 7,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 12.2% in the second quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 340,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,969,000 after purchasing an additional 36,962 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.