Wells Fargo & Company Raises Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target to $20.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $19.50 to $20.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Compass Point cut shares of Hercules Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $19.43 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.17. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $12.40 and a 1 year high of $19.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $121.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.86 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 69.98% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.88%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.6% during the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 133,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,461,000 after buying an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $5,560,000 after purchasing an additional 18,777 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 7,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in Hercules Capital by 17.9% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 47,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 7,239 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.