Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Short Interest Up 14.2% in June

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 680,600 shares, an increase of 14.2% from the May 31st total of 596,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 418,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barings BDC

In other news, insider Michael Freno bought 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.73 per share, with a total value of $267,575.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $692,240.85. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barings BDC

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Barings BDC by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 24,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Barings BDC by 15.3% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Barings BDC by 18.5% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 14,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,195 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Barings BDC by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 58,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors grew its position in shares of Barings BDC by 19.1% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 18,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares in the last quarter. 44.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Barings BDC from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd.

Barings BDC Stock Performance

Shares of BBDC stock traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $9.85. The company had a trading volume of 97,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,890. Barings BDC has a twelve month low of $7.60 and a twelve month high of $10.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.67.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 4th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.02). Barings BDC had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $69.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Barings BDC will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.56%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.55%.

Barings BDC Company Profile

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.