Short Interest in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Declines By 6.9%

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 801,400 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the September 15th total of 860,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 389,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Barings BDC from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BBDC. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 9.3% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 50.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 8.0% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 6.7% during the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 3.0% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the period. 44.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Barings BDC Stock Performance

NYSE:BBDC traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $9.78. The stock had a trading volume of 319,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 433,024. Barings BDC has a twelve month low of $8.55 and a twelve month high of $10.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $74.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.75 million. Barings BDC had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 11.49%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Barings BDC will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.63%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio 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.