Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 656,600 shares, an increase of 23.0% from the August 15th total of 533,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,016,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Point Credit

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ECC. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 74,538 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 5,355 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 26,823 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 96,127 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 4,881 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Eagle Point Credit in the fourth quarter worth about $1,192,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Eagle Point Credit by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 98,561 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 8,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Eagle Point Credit from $10.50 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Eagle Point Credit Price Performance

ECC stock opened at $9.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Eagle Point Credit has a 12 month low of $8.60 and a 12 month high of $10.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.05. The company has a market cap of $754.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.76.

Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The investment management company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.08). Eagle Point Credit had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 76.61%. The firm had revenue of $42.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.67 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Eagle Point Credit will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Point Credit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.13%. Eagle Point Credit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.32%.

About Eagle Point Credit

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc is a closed ended fund launched and managed by Eagle Point Credit Management LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund invests equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations consisting primarily of below investment grade U.S.