Short Interest in Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Increases By 44.1%

Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,090,000 shares, a growth of 44.1% from the March 15th total of 1,450,000 shares. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 329,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Compass Point increased their price target on Runway Growth Finance from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Runway Growth Finance currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CF Capital LLC bought a new stake in Runway Growth Finance during the fourth quarter worth $9,290,000. Bulldog Investors LLP raised its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 143.5% in the 4th quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP now owns 802,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,802,000 after purchasing an additional 472,799 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC lifted its stake in Runway Growth Finance by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 920,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,093,000 after purchasing an additional 398,547 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 151.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 443,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,856,000 after purchasing an additional 267,220 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Runway Growth Finance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,261,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.61% of the company’s stock.

Runway Growth Finance Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ RWAY opened at $9.19 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Runway Growth Finance has a fifty-two week low of $8.35 and a fifty-two week high of $13.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.22 million, a P/E ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.61.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $33.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.10 million. Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 27.05% and a return on equity of 12.91%. On average, analysts predict that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.11%.

Runway Growth Finance Company 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.