Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.54.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 4th. Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 25th.

In other news, Director Thomas J. Fallon acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.88 per share, for a total transaction of $148,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 61,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $916,667.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTGC. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,084,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,576,000 after buying an additional 31,004 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 26.9% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,871,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,826,000 after buying an additional 396,491 shares during the period. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the first quarter worth about $16,938,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 19.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,086,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,044,000 after purchasing an additional 173,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,000,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,593,000 after purchasing an additional 68,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.51% of the company’s stock.

NYSE HTGC traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,823,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,452,380. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.25. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $13.41 and a twelve month high of $19.09. The company has a current ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.36.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $62.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.09 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 38.45%. Hercules Capital’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 17th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 16th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.30%.

Hercules Capital Company Profile (Get Rating)

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.

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