Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target Raised to $21.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price indicates a potential upside of 5.03% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on HTGC. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTGC traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $20.00. The stock had a trading volume of 610,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 911,097. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $19.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $15.11 and a 1-year high of $21.78.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.03% and a net margin of 57.82%. The firm had revenue of $125.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $124.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In related 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos purchased 1,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.03 per share, for a total transaction of $28,992.24. Following the purchase, 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. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 433,032 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 62,826 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 77.0% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 31,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 13,765 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Hercules Capital by 170.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 126,789 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 79,947 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 98.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 89,118 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,644,000 after acquiring an additional 44,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 186,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,821,000 after acquiring an additional 38,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company's stock.

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.