Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Stock Now Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Wall Street’s consensus rating is “Hold”: Two analysts rate RWAY a sell, three hold, and two buy, with an average 12-month price target of $8.40. Bank of America recently downgraded the stock to “underperform” and cut its target to $5.50.
• Insiders and institutions have been buying: Company executives purchased 16,000 shares worth $108,640 over the past three months, while institutional investors own 64.61% of the stock.
• Runway Growth Finance reported quarterly EPS of $0.43, exceeding the $0.29 consensus estimate, and revenue of $37.03 million. The company’s $0.33 quarterly dividend implies a high annualized yield of 20.7%, though its payout ratio is reported at 1,200%.

Shares of Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.40.

A number of research firms recently commented on RWAY. Bank of America downgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Runway Growth Finance from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 target price (up from $10.00) on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research report on Friday, September 11th.

Insider Activity at Runway Growth Finance

In other news, CEO Michael Rovner bought 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.57 per share, with a total value of $45,990.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $45,990. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Carmela Thomson purchased 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $6.97 per share, for a total transaction of $55,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,494.80. This trade represents a 165.29% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders bought 16,000 shares of company stock worth $108,640. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Ground Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,084,080. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Runway Growth Finance in the second quarter worth $1,561,000. Man Group plc acquired a new position in Runway Growth Finance during the second quarter worth $1,044,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Runway Growth Finance during the second quarter worth $983,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 10.3% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,843,232 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,534,000 after buying an additional 171,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.61% of the company's stock.

Runway Growth Finance Price Performance

Shares of RWAY opened at $6.39 on Monday. Runway Growth Finance has a 12 month low of $5.19 and a 12 month high of $10.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.29. The company has a market cap of $267.80 million, a P/E ratio of 58.10 and a beta of 0.70.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.14. Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $37.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 20.7%. Runway Growth Finance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,200.00%.

Runway Growth Finance Company Profile

Runway Growth Finance Corporation NASDAQ: RWAY is a business development company that provides financing to growth-oriented companies, primarily through senior secured loans and other debt investments. The company focuses on lending to businesses that may have limited access to traditional bank financing, including venture-backed and private equity-backed companies.

Runway Growth Finance typically supports late-stage and expansion-stage businesses across sectors such as technology, healthcare, consumer products and business services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.