Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Receives $17.75 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.88.

Several equities analysts recently commented on HTGC shares. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Compass Point lowered shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 1,567.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,345,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,008 shares during the period. Melia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $10,922,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,414,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,254,000 after acquiring an additional 381,318 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 1st quarter valued at $4,706,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 491.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 245,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,092,000 after purchasing an additional 203,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

HTGC stock opened at $18.37 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.73. Hercules Capital has a one year low of $12.06 and a one year high of $18.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 2.75.

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

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.45%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.