Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target Raised to $21.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its price target hoisted by Piper Sandler from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on HTGC. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.25.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of HTGC opened at $19.16 on Friday. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $22.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The business had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.47 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a $0.47 dividend. This is a positive change from Hercules Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 105.96%.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In other Hercules Capital news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos acquired 5,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,180.40. This trade represents a 100.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Hercules Capital by 210.4% during the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 97,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 66,043 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $571,000. CNB Bank purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Hercules Capital by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 621,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,365,000 after purchasing an additional 122,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Hercules Capital by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 295,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,402,000 after purchasing an additional 9,585 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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.