Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 461,100 shares, an increase of 41.1% from the February 13th total of 326,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 167,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SCM. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 64,339 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 173,702 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in Stellus Capital Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Condor Capital Management grew its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 183,778 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,973 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 5,314 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.22% of the company’s stock.

Stellus Capital Investment Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE SCM traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $13.97. The company had a trading volume of 332,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,477. The firm has a market capitalization of $384.32 million, a PE ratio of 7.13 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.57 and a 200-day moving average of $14.07. Stellus Capital Investment has a 1 year low of $12.92 and a 1 year high of $15.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The investment management company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.04). Stellus Capital Investment had a net margin of 45.39% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $25.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.60 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stellus Capital Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.1333 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 10.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Stellus Capital Investment’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Stellus Capital Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

About Stellus Capital Investment

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in private middle-market companies. It invests through first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine debt financing, often with a corresponding equity investment. The fund prefers to invest in US and Canada.