Piper Sandler Boosts Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Price Target to $22.00

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its price objective lifted by Piper Sandler from $21.50 to $22.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on HTGC. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Hercules Capital from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $18.63.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of HTGC opened at $21.06 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.58. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $15.02 and a twelve month high of $21.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $121.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.86 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 69.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 72.73%.

Insider Transactions at Hercules Capital

In other news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 1,700 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.60, for a total transaction of $33,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,986.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 13,300 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.69, for a total value of $261,877.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,234 shares in the company, valued at $83,367.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 1,700 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.60, for a total value of $33,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,986.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 28.9% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 0.8% in the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 140,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 25,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Hercules Capital by 3.3% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 38,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.