Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

RWAY has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $9.50 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.60.

Runway Growth Finance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RWAY opened at $7.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.19. The stock has a market cap of $257.61 million, a P/E ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Runway Growth Finance has a fifty-two week low of $6.61 and a fifty-two week high of $11.40.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $30.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.60 million. Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 24.79%. Equities analysts expect that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 143.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RWAY. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Runway Growth Finance during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Runway Growth Finance in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 92.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 74,437.5% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares during the last quarter. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Runway Growth Finance

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.