Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Receives $20.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HTGC. 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 report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hercules Capital

In other news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 13,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.69, for a total value of $261,877.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,367.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hercules Capital news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 13,300 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.69, for a total value of $261,877.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $83,367.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos bought 1,608 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $101,202.39. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTGC. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Hercules Capital by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company's stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

HTGC stock remained flat at $18.29 during midday trading on Thursday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 625,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 990,635. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.31 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (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 18.22%. The business had revenue of $125.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 72.73%.

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.