Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.10.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.50 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Runway Growth Finance from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ RWAY opened at $9.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $327.34 million, a PE ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.21. Runway Growth Finance has a 12-month low of $8.35 and a 12-month high of $11.73.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $36.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.11 million. Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 38.92% and a return on equity of 11.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. Runway Growth Finance’s payout ratio is presently 89.80%.

Institutional Trading of Runway Growth Finance

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 2.2% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 5.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the period. State of Wyoming raised its position in Runway Growth Finance by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC now owns 22,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 1,955 shares during the period. 64.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.