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

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) saw 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 daily volume of 923,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTGC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 31.5% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 137,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,814,000 after purchasing an additional 32,929 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Hercules Capital by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 10,886 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 11.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 330,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,762,000 after acquiring an additional 33,297 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 24.1% in the second quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 55,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 10,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 265,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,420,000 after purchasing an additional 16,912 shares during the last quarter. 19.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hercules Capital Price Performance

NYSE:HTGC traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $20.09. The company had a trading volume of 960,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,375. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.36. Hercules Capital has a 52 week low of $16.51 and a 52 week high of $21.78. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.63.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. 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, research analysts anticipate that Hercules Capital will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

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

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.