Zacks Research Predicts Lower Earnings for Hercules Capital

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research lowered their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Hercules Capital in a research report issued on Wednesday, December 4th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings of $2.01 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $2.02. The consensus estimate for Hercules Capital’s current full-year earnings is $2.02 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Hercules Capital’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.48 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.48 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.99 EPS.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. The business had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.80 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 65.07% and a return on equity of 17.88%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.40.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of HTGC stock opened at $19.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.64. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $15.18 and a 52-week high of $21.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Institutional Trading of Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Hercules Capital in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hercules Capital by 59,650.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Hercules Capital by 2,067.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 353,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 336,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 45.6% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the period. 19.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hercules Capital news, CEO Scott Bluestein sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total transaction of $1,959,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,161,207 shares in the company, valued at $42,338,045.13. This trade represents a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Hercules Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.