Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) by 14.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 587,603 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,013 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. owned 0.55% of Barings BDC worth $5,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Barings BDC during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Barings BDC during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter worth $80,000. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd bought a new position in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter worth $88,000. Finally, JT Stratford LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barings BDC in the 3rd quarter worth about $107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Barings BDC from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd.

Insider Transactions at Barings BDC

In other news, insider Michael Freno bought 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.73 per share, for a total transaction of $267,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 71,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $692,240.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Barings BDC Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Barings BDC stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 479,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,365. Barings BDC, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.60 and a 52 week high of $10.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 7.91 and a beta of 0.66.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 4th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.02). Barings BDC had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 45.35%. The company had revenue of $69.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Barings BDC, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Barings BDC Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.69%. Barings BDC’s payout ratio is presently 84.55%.

About Barings BDC

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.