Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Plans $0.47 Quarterly Dividend

Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 0.47 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th.

Hercules Capital has raised its dividend by an average of 14.4% annually over the last three years. Hercules Capital has a payout ratio of 78.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Hercules Capital to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 78.8%.

Hercules Capital Trading Down 1.0 %

Hercules Capital stock opened at $21.50 on Monday. Hercules Capital has a 52-week low of $16.95 and a 52-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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.69.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Hercules Capital in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.25 to $20.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

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.