Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.42.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $17.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $22.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.41.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $138.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.95 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hercules Capital news, Director Gayle A. Crowell bought 6,000 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.77 per share, with a total value of $106,620.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 78,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,398,978.79. The trade was a 8.25% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Hercules Capital by 79.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 173.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

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.