Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 589,400 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the November 15th total of 558,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 380,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barings BDC

In other news, insider Michael James O’connor sold 29,424 shares of Barings BDC stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.70, for a total transaction of $285,412.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Stephen R. Byers acquired 8,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.73 per share, with a total value of $82,559.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 50,001 shares in the company, valued at $486,509.73. This represents a 20.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 14,048 shares of company stock worth $136,772. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BBDC. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Barings BDC during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Barings BDC by 50.0% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barings BDC during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barings BDC in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new position in shares of Barings BDC in the second quarter valued at $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Barings BDC Price Performance

Shares of BBDC opened at $9.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.87. Barings BDC has a 52-week low of $8.55 and a 52-week high of $10.38.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Barings BDC had a net margin of 39.59% and a return on equity of 11.24%. The firm had revenue of $70.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Barings BDC will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barings BDC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.71%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.30%.

About Barings BDC

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.