Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $19.50 to $20.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Hercules Capital traded as high as $19.76 and last traded at $19.72, with a volume of 301094 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.43.

HTGC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 154.8% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 133.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.5 %

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.47, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

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

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.73%.

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.