Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.89.

Several brokerages have weighed in on HTGC. UBS Group raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $15.50 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hercules Capital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 154,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,603,000 after buying an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 22.7% in the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 61,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 11,434 shares in the last quarter. Invested Advisors grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Invested Advisors now owns 14,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the third quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 40.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 12,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 3,727 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $16.39 on Tuesday. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $13.70 and a 1 year high of $19.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $134.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.71 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 67.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.8%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.60%.

About Hercules Capital

Hercules Capital, Inc is a business development company and specialty finance firm that provides debt financing to innovative, growth-oriented companies. The company focuses primarily on venture capital-backed businesses in the technology, life sciences, and sustainable and specialty technology sectors.

Hercules Capital offers secured loans and other forms of growth capital designed to support companies through various stages of development, including expansion, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and initial public offerings.