Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

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

Several other research firms also recently commented on HTGC. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.42.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC stock opened at $17.55 on Friday. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.41. 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 (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 51.46%.The firm had revenue of $138.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.1%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 93.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hercules Capital

In other news, Director Gayle A. Crowell purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.77 per share, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 78,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,398,978.79. This represents a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital in the second quarter worth $522,447,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the 3rd quarter worth $11,199,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 425.6% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 580,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,610,000 after buying an additional 469,989 shares during the last quarter. HRT Financial LP increased its position in Hercules Capital by 100.9% during the 2nd quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 558,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,200,000 after buying an additional 280,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Credit Agricole S A purchased a new stake in Hercules Capital in the third quarter valued at about $5,271,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.