Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) Earns Market Outperform Rating from JMP Securities

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating restated by research analysts at JMP Securities in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. JMP Securities’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.47% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on HTGC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

HTGC stock opened at $21.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.60. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $16.95 and a 52 week high of $21.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS 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 business had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.09 million. Research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,943,000. Ares Management LLC raised its holdings in Hercules Capital by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 226,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,553,000 after acquiring an additional 28,300 shares during the period. Talon Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth $291,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,016,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 14.6% in 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 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.