Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.88.

Several analysts recently weighed in on HTGC shares. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $18.45 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.75. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $12.06 and a 1 year high of $18.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.26%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 296,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $198,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 921.8% during the 4th quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 5,199 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, Napa Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $1,465,000. 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.