Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.42.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC stock opened at $17.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $18.24 and its 200-day moving average is $18.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.95. 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 results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 51.46%.The business had revenue of $138.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gayle A. Crowell bought 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.77 per share, with a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 78,727 shares in the company, valued at $1,398,978.79. This represents a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 111,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,136,000 after purchasing an additional 28,832 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 28,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 7,649 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 28.5% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 4,451 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 2,355.6% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 5,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 5,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Hercules Capital by 7.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 140,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,700,000 after acquiring an additional 9,416 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by 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.