Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.83.

Several research firms have weighed in on HTGC. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of HTGC remained flat at $19.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock had a trading volume of 845,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 919,750. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.47 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.67. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $15.14 and a 52-week high of $21.78.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51. The business had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.04%. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the company'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 value of $1,959,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 7.9% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 100,619 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,856,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 301,373 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,560,000 after buying an additional 18,777 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Hercules Capital by 35.3% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,163 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,482 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 6.2% in the first quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 344,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,363,000 after acquiring an additional 20,071 shares during the period. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 192.4% in the first quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 86,717 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 57,059 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.