Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Raises Dividend to $0.47 Per Share

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 29th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.47 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This is a 17.5% increase from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Hercules Capital has a payout ratio of 80.4% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Hercules Capital to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 78.8%.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23 and a beta of 0.93. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $102.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $125.43 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 45.23% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 5,999 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Hercules Capital by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 15,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Hercules Capital by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 17,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Hercules Capital by 85.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 10,559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HTGC shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.08.

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.