Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.45 Per Share

Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF) declared a — dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 8.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Bain Capital Specialty Finance’s previous — dividend of $0.03.

Bain Capital Specialty Finance has raised its dividend by an average of 7.3% per year over the last three years. Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a payout ratio of 93.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities analysts expect Bain Capital Specialty Finance to earn $1.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 89.8%.

Bain Capital Specialty Finance Price Performance

Shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance stock traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.08. 347,470 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 208,461. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.15. Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a fifty-two week low of $15.29 and a fifty-two week high of $19.16.

Bain Capital Specialty Finance (NYSE:BCSF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $73.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.50 million. Bain Capital Specialty Finance had a net margin of 43.62% and a return on equity of 11.90%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bain Capital Specialty Finance will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

About Bain Capital Specialty Finance

Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc is business development company specializing in direct loans to middle-market companies. The fund seeks to invest in senior investments with a first or second lien on collateral, senior first lien, stretch senior, senior second lien, unitranche, mezzanine debt, junior securities, other junior investments, and secondary purchases of assets or portfolios that primarily consist of middle-market corporate debt.