Brokerages Set Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Target Price at $18.00

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Compass Point downgraded Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 28.9% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $18.86 on Friday. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $12.40 and a twelve month high of $18.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.01.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 73.26%. The business had revenue of $122.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.18%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

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.