Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target Raised to $21.50

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its target price lifted by Piper Sandler from $21.00 to $21.50 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Hercules Capital stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.74. 664,113 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 893,801. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $13.01 and a twelve month high of $19.78. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.18.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $121.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.86 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 69.98% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.73%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 72.73%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% in the 4th 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 Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 133.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares during the period. 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.