Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Short Interest Down 15.5% in July

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 701,900 shares, a decrease of 15.5% from the July 15th total of 830,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 404,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Barings BDC from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Barings BDC from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barings BDC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barings BDC during the fourth quarter worth approximately $125,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Barings BDC in the fourth quarter valued at $341,000. Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,026,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,968,000 after buying an additional 79,150 shares during the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barings BDC during the fourth quarter worth about $137,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,691,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,510,000 after acquiring an additional 161,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Barings BDC Trading Up 0.2 %

BBDC stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 375,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 378,024. Barings BDC has a 12 month low of $8.55 and a 12 month high of $10.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.56. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.11 and a beta of 0.67.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $74.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.75 million. Barings BDC had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 11.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barings BDC will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Barings BDC Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.43%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.