Short Interest in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Expands By 8.4%

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,570,000 shares, a growth of 8.4% from the March 15th total of 5,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 933,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of HTGC stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $17.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,225,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 783,296. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.16 and a 200-day moving average of $16.92. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 1.34. Hercules Capital has a twelve month low of $12.40 and a twelve month high of $18.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $122.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.48 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 73.26% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.67%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.26%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Graypoint LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $2,071,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $613,000. Mckinley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 60.8% during the third quarter. Mckinley Capital Management LLC now owns 348,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,730,000 after purchasing an additional 131,924 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Hercules Capital by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,580,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,015,000 after purchasing an additional 59,263 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC purchased a new position in Hercules Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $628,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Compass Point cut shares of Hercules Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hercules Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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.