Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Short Interest Update

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,570,000 shares, a growth of 8.4% from the March 15th total of 5,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 933,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.2 %

HTGC traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $17.99. 1,225,085 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 783,296. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.92. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $12.40 and a 52-week high of $18.88. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79 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 (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $122.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.48 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 69.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTGC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Compass Point downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Graypoint LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the third quarter worth approximately $2,071,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $613,000. Mckinley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 60.8% in the third quarter. Mckinley Capital Management LLC now owns 348,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,730,000 after buying an additional 131,924 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,580,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,015,000 after buying an additional 59,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the third quarter worth $628,000. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.