Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Hercules Capital, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from seven research firms, with two analysts recommending hold and five suggesting buy.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.47, reflecting a positive change from the previous $0.40, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 9.7%.
• Hercules Capital's stock recently opened at $19.44, with an average 12-month price target among brokerages at $20.58.

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.5833.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HTGC. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $679,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 30.7% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $627,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 155,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 112.9% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 55,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 29,299 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

HTGC traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.35. The stock had a trading volume of 198,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,159,494. The company has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.95. Hercules Capital has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $22.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.27 and a 200 day moving average of $18.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 51.46% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $137.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $129.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This is a boost from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Hercules Capital's payout ratio is 105.96%.

About Hercules Capital

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.