Short Interest in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Increases By 10.7%

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,480,000 shares, a growth of 10.7% from the November 30th total of 4,950,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 923,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HTGC shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.90.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.09. The company had a trading volume of 960,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,375. Hercules Capital has a 1-year low of $16.51 and a 1-year high of $21.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.63.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 65.07%. The firm had revenue of $125.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 79.21%.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 17.0% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 433,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after buying an additional 62,826 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 31,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 13,765 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 511.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 44,386 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 9.3% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 406,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 34,718 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Hercules Capital by 28.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,667,000 after purchasing an additional 84,780 shares in the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is 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.