CION Investment Corporation (NYSE:CION) Short Interest Up 353.5% in March

CION Investment Corporation (NYSE:CION) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 814,224 shares, an increase of 353.5% from the February 26th total of 179,558 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 801,197 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 801,197 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CION Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in CION Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $207,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CION Investment by 63.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 219,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,101,000 after buying an additional 84,855 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in CION Investment by 20.9% in the second quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 109,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 18,897 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in CION Investment in the second quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CION Investment in the second quarter worth approximately $109,000. 32.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CION shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of CION Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on CION Investment from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CION Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded CION Investment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Sell” and an average price target of $7.00.

CION Investment Price Performance

CION opened at $6.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $350.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.22. CION Investment has a 1-year low of $6.50 and a 1-year high of $11.07.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $53.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.77 million. CION Investment had a negative net margin of 8.57% and a positive return on equity of 12.42%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CION Investment will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CION Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. CION Investment’s payout ratio is currently -307.69%.

About CION Investment

CION Investment Corporation is a closed‐end, non‐diversified management investment company organized as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Externally managed by CION Investment Management, LLC, the firm specializes in providing flexible capital solutions to U.S. and Canadian middle‐market companies. By combining debt and equity financing, CION seeks to support growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and other strategic initiatives for its portfolio companies.

The company’s investment strategy centers on senior secured loans, subordinated debt and private equity interests.