Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $19.50 to $20.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Hercules Capital traded as high as $19.76 and last traded at $19.72, with a volume of 301094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.43.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 4.7% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 107,094 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 4,805 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 17.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 46,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.9% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 28,722 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,071,000. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.47. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $18.41 and a 200 day moving average of $17.18.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $121.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $121.86 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 69.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.75%. Hercules Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.73%.

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.