Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Short Interest Down 16.1% in February

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) saw a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,590,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 5,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 177.2% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 239.0% in the 4th quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp lifted its position in Hercules Capital by 345.4% in the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE HTGC opened at $18.80 on Tuesday. Hercules Capital has a one year low of $16.95 and a one year high of $22.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 1.38.

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. The business had revenue of $121.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.09 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.00%. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.38%.

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.