Barings Bdc, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Short Interest Update

Barings Bdc, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,883,292 shares, a growth of 34.7% from the February 26th total of 1,397,966 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 986,117 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barings Bdc

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ares Management LLC raised its position in Barings Bdc by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 3,797,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,706,000 after buying an additional 190,016 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barings Bdc by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,765,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,568,000 after acquiring an additional 481,172 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Barings Bdc by 5.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,479,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,725,000 after acquiring an additional 136,541 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barings Bdc by 36.3% during the third quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,141,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,764,000 after purchasing an additional 570,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Barings Bdc by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,493,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,713,000 after purchasing an additional 285,272 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Barings Bdc from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.67.

Barings Bdc Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:BBDC traded up $0.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $8.12. The stock had a trading volume of 488,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 818,650. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Barings Bdc has a one year low of $7.66 and a one year high of $9.92. The company has a market capitalization of $849.72 million, a P/E ratio of 7.13 and a beta of 0.60.

Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Barings Bdc had a return on equity of 10.05% and a net margin of 36.50%.The firm had revenue of $65.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Barings Bdc will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barings Bdc Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.8%. Barings Bdc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 107.22%.

Barings Bdc Company Profile

Barings BDC Inc (NYSE: BBDC) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides flexible financing solutions to middle-market companies. As an investment vehicle organized under the Investment Company Act of 1940, BBDC seeks to generate both current income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in senior secured loans, second lien loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The company targets established businesses across a diverse range of industries, including healthcare, industrials, consumer products and business services.

The company is sponsored and managed by Barings LLC, a global investment manager and subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual).