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

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.00.

Several brokerages recently commented on HTGC. Compass Point downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.26 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $12.40 and a 1-year high of $18.88.

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

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 36,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 21,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 5.2% during the third quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 15,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 22,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. 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.