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

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its target price increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $18.00 to $19.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

HTGC has been the topic of several other research reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Compass Point lowered shares of Hercules Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.6 %

HTGC stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.74. The stock had a trading volume of 664,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 893,801. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.41 and a 200 day moving average of $17.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $13.01 and a 1-year high of $19.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.