Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $18.89

Shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.89.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTGC. UBS Group raised Hercules Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $15.50 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hercules Capital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th.

Hercules Capital Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $16.41 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Hercules Capital has a 12 month low of $13.70 and a 12 month high of $19.13.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 67.68%. The firm had revenue of $134.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Hercules Capital will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,877,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,150,000 after buying an additional 713,653 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 3.0% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,777,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,521,000 after acquiring an additional 110,177 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Hercules Capital in the second quarter valued at about $26,523,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.5% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 1,101,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,521,000 after acquiring an additional 95,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 0.6% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,025,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,144,000 after acquiring an additional 6,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

Hercules Capital, Inc is a business development company and specialty finance firm that provides debt financing to innovative, growth-oriented companies. The company focuses primarily on venture capital-backed businesses in the technology, life sciences, and sustainable and specialty technology sectors.

Hercules Capital offers secured loans and other forms of growth capital designed to support companies through various stages of development, including expansion, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and initial public offerings.