CION Investment (NYSE:CION) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CION. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of CION Investment from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CION Investment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CION Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $7.00.

CION Investment Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE CION opened at $6.72 on Monday. CION Investment has a 12-month low of $6.50 and a 12-month high of $11.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $339.46 million, a PE ratio of -17.24 and a beta of 1.09.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last released 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). CION Investment had a positive return on equity of 12.42% and a negative net margin of 8.57%.The company had revenue of $53.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.77 million. On average, equities analysts predict that CION Investment will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CION Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CION. Alpine Global Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CION Investment by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 93,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of CION Investment in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $193,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of CION Investment by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,256,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,152,000 after purchasing an additional 9,323 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in CION Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $309,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CION Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $337,000. 32.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CION Investment Company Profile

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.