Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) Price Target to $8.00

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) had its price target reduced by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $9.00 to $8.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the investment management company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price suggests a potential upside of 9.51% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Stellus Capital Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Stellus Capital Investment from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their price target on Stellus Capital Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Stellus Capital Investment from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Stellus Capital Investment Stock Performance

Shares of Stellus Capital Investment stock opened at $7.30 on Monday. Stellus Capital Investment has a 1 year low of $6.83 and a 1 year high of $15.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $8.60 and its 200 day moving average is $9.98. The stock has a market cap of $211.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.04.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The investment management company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27. Stellus Capital Investment had a net margin of 23.59% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The firm had revenue of $17.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.80 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J Tim Arnoult bought 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.05 per share, for a total transaction of $81,450.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 50,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,364.45. The trade was a 21.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 10,700 shares of company stock valued at $96,523. Company insiders own 4.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SCM. Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stellus Capital Investment in the 2nd quarter worth $117,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 31.5% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 203,190 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 48,617 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Stellus Capital Investment in the first quarter valued at about $399,000. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Stellus Capital Investment in the first quarter worth about $313,000. Finally, PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 7.2% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 74,661 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 5,016 shares in the last quarter. 13.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stellus Capital Investment Company Profile

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE: SCM) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides debt and equity financing to middle market companies in the United States. As an investment vehicle specializing in private credit, Stellus focuses on originating and structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, mezzanine debt, and equity co-investments tailored to the unique needs of growing businesses. Its flexible capital solutions are designed to support acquisitions, recapitalizations, growth initiatives, and balance sheet refinancings.

Operating under an evergreen structure, Stellus Capital Investment partners with a diverse group of portfolio companies across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, business services, and specialty finance.