Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Short Interest Down 16.1% in February

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,590,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 5,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $19.11. 399,564 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,000,462. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $16.95 and a 1-year high of $22.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The business had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. Sell-side analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.84%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 99.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HTGC. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Compass Point raised their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC now owns 275,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,542,000 after acquiring an additional 67,215 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 511.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 44,386 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.3% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 406,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 34,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,667,000 after purchasing an additional 84,780 shares during the period. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 493,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,921,000 after purchasing an additional 60,776 shares during the period. 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.