Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Announces Dividend Increase - $0.47 Per Share

Key Points

• Hercules Capital, Inc. has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.47 per share, representing a 17.5% rise from the previous dividend of $0.40, with an annualized yield of 9.82%.
• The company's payout ratio is 80.4%, indicating that the dividend is currently covered by earnings, though future earnings fluctuations could impact this.
• Hercules Capital's stock declined by 1.5% on the announcement day, and the current price target among analysts varies widely, reflecting cautious sentiment in light of recently missed earnings expectations.

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 29th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of 0.47 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This is a 17.5% increase from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Hercules Capital has a payout ratio of 80.4% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings decline. Research analysts expect Hercules Capital to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 78.8%.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Hercules Capital stock traded up $0.40 on Friday, reaching $19.16. 1,875,292 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,213,240. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 0.93. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $22.04. The firm's 50-day moving average is $18.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $137.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $129.47 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 45.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.25.

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.