Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) Share Price Passes Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM) shares passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $11.75 and traded as low as $9.20. Stellus Capital Investment shares last traded at $9.3410, with a volume of 112,119 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Stellus Capital Investment in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Stellus Capital Investment from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.00.

Stellus Capital Investment Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.34 and its 200 day moving average is $11.75. The firm has a market cap of $270.39 million, a P/E ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 0.67.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The investment management company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.02). Stellus Capital Investment had a return on equity of 10.28% and a net margin of 26.48%.The business had revenue of $23.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.33 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Stellus Capital Investment Corporation will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Stellus Capital Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.1133 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 14.6%. Stellus Capital Investment’s payout ratio is presently 144.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert T. Ladd bought 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.70 per share, with a total value of $304,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 667,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,811,034.50. This represents a 5.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO W. Todd Huskinson bought 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.79 per share, with a total value of $50,103.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $477,270.63. The trade was a 11.73% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired 87,890 shares of company stock valued at $766,551 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCM. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 138.9% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 507,526 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,075,000 after buying an additional 295,068 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 695.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 309,045 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,919,000 after buying an additional 270,199 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 390.7% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 146,133 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 116,352 shares during the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 43.7% in the third quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 206,893 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,702,000 after buying an additional 62,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 65.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 156,050 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,038,000 after buying an additional 62,002 shares during the last quarter. 13.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Stellus Capital Investment

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE: SCM) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides debt and equity financing to middle market companies in the United States. As an investment vehicle specializing in private credit, Stellus focuses on originating and structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, mezzanine debt, and equity co-investments tailored to the unique needs of growing businesses. Its flexible capital solutions are designed to support acquisitions, recapitalizations, growth initiatives, and balance sheet refinancings.

Operating under an evergreen structure, Stellus Capital Investment partners with a diverse group of portfolio companies across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, business services, and specialty finance.