Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.25.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 34,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $296,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 26,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 1,851 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 97.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 19,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 9,517 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 56.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $17.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.13. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. The company had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.19% and a net margin of 53.28%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.96%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.38%.

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.