Goldman Sachs BDC Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:GSBD)

Goldman Sachs BDC, Inc. (NYSE:GSBD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 7,029 call options on the company. This is an increase of 5,031% compared to the typical volume of 137 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Goldman Sachs BDC

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Goldman Sachs BDC by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 169,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 25,062 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs BDC by 53.4% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 287,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after buying an additional 100,283 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Goldman Sachs BDC by 1.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 683,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,946,000 after buying an additional 12,701 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in shares of Goldman Sachs BDC by 3,226.2% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 199,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,316,000 after buying an additional 193,186 shares during the period. Finally, MAS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs BDC by 45.7% during the first quarter. MAS Advisors LLC now owns 25,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 7,866 shares during the last quarter. 28.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GSBD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Goldman Sachs BDC from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Goldman Sachs BDC in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $10.50 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Goldman Sachs BDC in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Goldman Sachs BDC from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Goldman Sachs BDC presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.75.

Goldman Sachs BDC Price Performance

Shares of GSBD opened at $9.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.81. Goldman Sachs BDC has a 1-year low of $9.35 and a 1-year high of $13.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 8.37 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.79.

Goldman Sachs BDC (NYSE:GSBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $91.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.16 million. Goldman Sachs BDC had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 34.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Goldman Sachs BDC will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Goldman Sachs BDC Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Goldman Sachs BDC’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.2%. Goldman Sachs BDC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.34%.

Goldman Sachs BDC Company Profile

Goldman Sachs BDC, Inc is a business development company specializing in middle market and mezzanine investment in private companies. It seeks to make capital appreciation through direct originations of secured debt, senior secured debt, junior secured debt, including first lien, first lien/last-out unitranche and second lien debt, unsecured debt, including mezzanine debt and, to a lesser extent, investments in equities.