Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.8750.

Several research firms have recently commented on RWAY. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. B. Riley Financial lowered their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $9.50 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC now owns 22,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.61% of the company’s stock.

Runway Growth Finance Trading Down 2.4%

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $6.01 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Runway Growth Finance has a 12 month low of $6.00 and a 12 month high of $11.40. The stock has a market cap of $255.24 million, a P/E ratio of -66.78 and a beta of 0.64.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.02). Runway Growth Finance had a negative net margin of 2.00% and a positive return on equity of 10.87%. The company had revenue of $29.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.47 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 22.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Runway Growth Finance’s payout ratio is presently -1,466.67%.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance, Inc is a publicly traded business development company that provides customized debt and equity financing solutions to high‐growth, venture‐backed companies. The firm specializes in structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, second‐lien financings, convertible notes and equity co‐investments designed to extend the cash runway for late‐stage companies. Runway’s flexible capital offerings are aimed at supporting technology, life sciences and other innovation‐driven sectors as they pursue growth initiatives and prepare for liquidity events.

Originally launched in 2017 under the name Saratoga Investment Corp., the company rebranded as Runway Growth Finance in 2020 following the acquisition of an established middle‐market credit manager.