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

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of 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. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 177.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 239.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in Hercules Capital by 345.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTGC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hercules Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

Hercules Capital Stock Performance

NYSE:HTGC opened at $18.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.80. Hercules Capital has a fifty-two week low of $16.95 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 1.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 53.28% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The business had revenue of $121.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.09 million. Analysts expect that Hercules Capital will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. 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.