Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Sets New 52-Week High at $19.26

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.26 and last traded at $19.25, with a volume of 535494 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Compass Point cut Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 1.34.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $122.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.26%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTGC. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 154.8% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 133.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

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.