Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Upgraded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $21.50 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $19.50.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on HTGC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.90.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.2 %

Hercules Capital stock opened at $19.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $15.68 and a 12 month high of $21.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 1.36.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.51. The business had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 65.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In related news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $1,959,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,161,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,338,045.13. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2,067.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 353,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 336,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 45.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is 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.