Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target to $19.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $20.00 to $19.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target suggests a potential upside of 21.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on HTGC. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Hercules Capital from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $20.50 to $17.50 in a report on Friday. Capital One Financial set a $19.75 price objective on Hercules Capital in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Lucid Cap Mkts raised Hercules Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.39.

Hercules Capital Stock Down 6.1%

Hercules Capital stock traded down $1.01 on Friday, hitting $15.60. 4,600,082 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,790,081. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $15.44 and a 1 year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.48. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 60.05% and a return on equity of 16.13%. The company had revenue of $133.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $141.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,199,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 425.6% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 580,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,610,000 after buying an additional 469,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,671,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,464,000 after buying an additional 353,092 shares during the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. raised its position in Hercules Capital by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 1,335,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,140,000 after acquiring an additional 342,967 shares during the period. Finally, HRT Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 100.9% during the 2nd quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 558,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after acquiring an additional 280,198 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Hercules Capital News

Here are the key news stories impacting Hercules Capital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Originations and operational momentum — Management highlighted record/strong performance and originations up ~71% year-over-year, which supports future earnings and portfolio growth. MSN: Q4 originations rise
• Neutral Sentiment: Management weighing supplemental dividend and new debt — Company is discussing a supplemental dividend and possible additional debt issuance; that could boost near-term shareholder payouts but also raise leverage/valuation questions depending on execution. Yahoo: Dividend vs debt
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call materials and transcript available — Investors can review the slide deck and full call transcript (useful for parsing portfolio quality, credit metrics and payout plans). Seeking Alpha: Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed estimates while EPS only matched — Q4 EPS was $0.48, in line with consensus, but revenue of $133.25M missed expectations (~$141.6M), and EPS is slightly below prior-year levels, raising short-term growth concerns. Zacks: Q4 results
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target trim — Wells Fargo lowered its HTGC target from $18 to $17 (still an overweight rating), signaling more conservative near-term upside and likely contributing to selling pressure. Benzinga: Wells Fargo PT cut

About Hercules Capital

Hercules Capital, Inc is a specialty finance company organized as a business development company (BDC) that provides tailored debt financing solutions to high‐growth companies. Through its external management structure, Hercules Capital extends senior secured loans, subordinated debt and growth capital designed to support research and development, expansion initiatives and working capital needs. The firm primarily partners with venture capital and private equity sponsors to finance innovative enterprises across various developmental stages.

The company’s investment portfolio is concentrated in technology, life sciences and sustainable and renewable technology sectors, reflecting its focus on industries with strong growth prospects and recurring capital requirements.