Hercules Capital’s (HTGC) Market Outperform Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reiterated their market outperform rating on shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $22.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HTGC opened at $19.51 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.51 and its 200 day moving average is $19.65. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $15.18 and a 12-month high of $21.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. The firm had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.84%. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,338,045.13. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 170.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 126,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 79,947 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Hercules Capital by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 40,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the period. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 38,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 963.9% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 8,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 7,769 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.