Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Hercules Capital, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from seven brokerages, with two analysts recommending a hold and five recommending a buy.
• Besides a recent earnings report that exceeded expectations, Hercules Capital raised its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.47, reflecting a strong annualized yield of 9.8%.
• The company's stock has shown resilience, currently trading at $19.1450, with a 12-month range between $15.65 and $22.04.

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.5833.

HTGC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTGC. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 79.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 173.4% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth 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. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of HTGC traded up $0.0750 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $19.2250. 975,552 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,180,776. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.94. Hercules Capital has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm's fifty day moving average is $18.86 and its 200 day moving average is $18.69.

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

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.8%. This is a boost from Hercules Capital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio is 105.96%.

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.