Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target Raised to $19.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its target price raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $18.00 to $19.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Compass Point downgraded Hercules Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.43. 1,369,561 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,423. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.32. Hercules Capital has a fifty-two week low of $12.40 and a fifty-two week high of $19.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 2.75.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 69.98%. The company had revenue of $121.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.88%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 72.73%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 133.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.