Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $21.05, but opened at $20.50. Hercules Capital shares last traded at $21.29, with a volume of 636,709 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on HTGC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.24 and a 200-day moving average of $19.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.35.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The firm had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.84%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.21%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $1,943,000. Ares Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 226,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after acquiring an additional 28,300 shares during the last quarter. Talon Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,016,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 109,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,930 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.