Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on RWAY. B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on Runway Growth Finance from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Runway Growth Finance from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $9.50 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.60.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Performance

NASDAQ RWAY opened at $7.03 on Tuesday. Runway Growth Finance has a twelve month low of $6.61 and a twelve month high of $11.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $253.99 million, a P/E ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.26.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.04). Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 24.79%.The business had revenue of $30.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.60 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 18.8%. Runway Growth Finance’s payout ratio is presently 143.48%.

Institutional Trading of Runway Growth Finance

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,671,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,694,000 after buying an additional 261,768 shares during the last quarter. North Ground Capital increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 102.5% in the 4th quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,569,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,012,000 after acquiring an additional 794,050 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,442,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,654,000 after acquiring an additional 49,685 shares in the last quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP raised its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP now owns 1,200,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,724,000 after acquiring an additional 159,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 638,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,702,000 after purchasing an additional 231,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.61% of the company’s stock.

Runway Growth Finance Company Profile

Runway Growth Finance, Inc is a publicly traded business development company that provides customized debt and equity financing solutions to high‐growth, venture‐backed companies. The firm specializes in structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, second‐lien financings, convertible notes and equity co‐investments designed to extend the cash runway for late‐stage companies. Runway’s flexible capital offerings are aimed at supporting technology, life sciences and other innovation‐driven sectors as they pursue growth initiatives and prepare for liquidity events.

Originally launched in 2017 under the name Saratoga Investment Corp., the company rebranded as Runway Growth Finance in 2020 following the acquisition of an established middle‐market credit manager.