Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) Short Interest Up 23.0% in August

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 656,600 shares, an increase of 23.0% from the August 15th total of 533,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,016,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECC. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Eagle Point Credit in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eagle Point Credit during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 646.4% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Nadler Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Point Credit in the first quarter worth about $101,000. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC acquired a new stake in Eagle Point Credit during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $105,000. 19.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eagle Point Credit Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECC opened at $9.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $754.49 million, a PE ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.76. Eagle Point Credit has a 12-month low of $8.60 and a 12-month high of $10.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.05.

Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The investment management company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $42.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.67 million. Eagle Point Credit had a net margin of 76.61% and a return on equity of 12.87%. As a group, analysts expect that Eagle Point Credit will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Point Credit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Eagle Point Credit’s payout ratio is presently 90.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Eagle Point Credit from $10.50 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Eagle Point Credit Company Profile

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc is a closed ended fund launched and managed by Eagle Point Credit Management LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund invests equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations consisting primarily of below investment grade U.S.