Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.4167.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 499,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,599,000 after acquiring an additional 56,932 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 804,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,446,000 after acquiring an additional 15,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Hercules Capital stock opened at $17.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.37. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.96. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $129.47 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This is an increase from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 105.96%.

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.