Analysts Set Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Target Price at $20.25

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.25.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTGC. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTGC. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 205.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,406,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,265,000 after purchasing an additional 946,700 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $14,871,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 945,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,002,000 after buying an additional 488,172 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 1,834.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 429,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,621,000 after acquiring an additional 406,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,755,000. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE HTGC opened at $17.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.08 and a 200-day moving average of $19.58. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $15.65 and a 1-year high of $22.04.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The business had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.09 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 99.38%.

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.