SG Americas Securities LLC Buys Shares of 9,969 Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance during the first quarter worth approximately $12,670,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 0.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,039,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,330,000 after buying an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Ares Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 8.8% during the first quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 949,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,895,000 after buying an additional 76,409 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 54.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 297,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,805,000 after buying an additional 104,821 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 52.8% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 168,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,160,000 after buying an additional 58,264 shares during the period. 64.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on RWAY. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Runway Growth Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Runway Growth Finance from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $13.50 to $12.50 in a report on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Runway Growth Finance from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. TheStreet cut shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Runway Growth Finance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.04.

Runway Growth Finance Trading Up 1.5 %

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $12.58 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Runway Growth Finance Corp. has a 12 month low of $10.47 and a 12 month high of $13.74. The stock has a market cap of $509.62 million, a P/E ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.69.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.04). Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 27.00% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $39.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance Corp. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 145.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Runway Growth Finance news, CEO R David Spreng acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.88 per share, for a total transaction of $59,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,640.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Runway Growth Finance news, insider Thomas B. Raterman acquired 20,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.61 per share, for a total transaction of $237,540.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 179,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,393.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO R David Spreng acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.88 per share, with a total value of $59,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,640.16. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Runway Growth Finance Profile

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors.