Brokerages Set Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Target Price at $12.65

Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.65.

RWAY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $13.50 to $12.50 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research report on Friday, March 8th.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Up 0.1 %

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $11.88 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $468.55 million, a P/E ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Runway Growth Finance has a one year low of $10.90 and a one year high of $13.74.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.04). Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 26.93% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business had revenue of $39.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.47%. Runway Growth Finance’s payout ratio is 145.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Runway Growth Finance news, CEO R David Spreng purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.88 per share, with a total value of $59,400.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,640.16. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO R David Spreng acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.88 per share, for a total transaction of $59,400.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,640.16. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ocm Growth Holdings Llc sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.33, for a total value of $11,330,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,492,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $175,526,263.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Runway Growth Finance

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the first quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 51.6% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 12,937 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 3,376 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 16,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 2,652 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,238,000 after buying an additional 2,050 shares during the period. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Runway Growth Finance Company Profile

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors.