Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.00.

HTGC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 1,608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.03 per share, with a total value of $28,992.24. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,613 shares in the company, valued at $101,202.39. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 1,608 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.03 per share, for a total transaction of $28,992.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,613 shares in the company, valued at $101,202.39. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTGC. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 11.8% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,824,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,768,000 after purchasing an additional 298,992 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.8% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,737,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,761,000 after purchasing an additional 47,672 shares during the period. Melia Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 5.5% during the first quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 691,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,759,000 after purchasing an additional 36,325 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 1.2% during the second quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 607,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,427,000 after buying an additional 7,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.8% during the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 379,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,762,000 after buying an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE:HTGC opened at $19.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.39. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $15.02 and a 12 month high of $21.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.51.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 57.82% and a return on equity of 18.03%. The firm had revenue of $125.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.66%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 72.73%.

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.