Jefferies Financial Group Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) – Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group lifted their Q3 2022 EPS estimates for shares of Hercules Capital in a report issued on Thursday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst J. Hecht now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings of $0.35 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.34. The consensus estimate for Hercules Capital’s current full-year earnings is $1.35 per share. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Hercules Capital’s FY2022 earnings at $1.35 EPS.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of Hercules Capital from a “b” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Hercules Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Hercules Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $15.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.61.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $15.91 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 3.02. Hercules Capital has a one year low of $12.61 and a one year high of $19.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.33.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 38.45%. The business had revenue of $72.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.41 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 43,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 5.2% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 53,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 47,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Midwest Financial LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 183,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 25.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas J. Fallon acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.88 per share, for a total transaction of $148,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 8th. This is an increase from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 155.30%.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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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.