Short Interest in Capital Southwest Co. (NASDAQ:CSWC) Expands By 33.3%

Capital Southwest Co. (NASDAQ:CSWC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,520,000 shares, a growth of 33.3% from the January 31st total of 1,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 542,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Capital Southwest

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Capital Southwest by 4.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its position in shares of Capital Southwest by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 6,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Capital Southwest by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its holdings in Capital Southwest by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 2,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Capital Southwest by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. 23.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Capital Southwest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Capital Southwest Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:CSWC traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $22.47. The stock had a trading volume of 511,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,005. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.58. Capital Southwest has a 1-year low of $20.68 and a 1-year high of $27.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Capital Southwest had a net margin of 33.49% and a return on equity of 15.18%. Analysts predict that Capital Southwest will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Capital Southwest Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Capital Southwest’s payout ratio is 164.54%.

Capital Southwest Company Profile

Capital Southwest Corporation is a business development company specializing in credit and private equity and venture capital investments in middle market companies, mezzanine, later stage, mature, late venture, emerging growth, buyouts, industry consolidation, recapitalizations and growth capital investments.