Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Given New $22.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

HTGC has been the topic of a number of other reports. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Five 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 has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $18.88.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $21.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.93. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $15.02 and a 52-week high of $21.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.47.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The company 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 revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is 72.73%.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In other Hercules Capital news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.60, for a total transaction of $33,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,986.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert P. Badavas sold 13,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $83,367.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.3% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,689,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,004,000 after purchasing an additional 35,554 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Hercules Capital by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,525,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,602,000 after purchasing an additional 111,101 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hercules Capital by 1,567.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,345,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,433,000 after buying an additional 1,265,008 shares in the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 691,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,759,000 after buying an additional 36,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 607,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,427,000 after buying an additional 7,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.