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

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

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Compass Point downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hercules Capital presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.56.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

Hercules Capital stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,369,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,423. The company has a market cap 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.16. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $12.40 and a 52 week high of $19.70.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 69.98% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The business had revenue of $121.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 72.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 133.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares during the period. 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.