D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Takes Position in Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 66,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.18% of Runway Growth Finance as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Runway Growth Finance during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the 4th quarter valued at $114,000. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Runway Growth Finance in the fourth quarter valued at about $114,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Runway Growth Finance by 920.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 17,356 shares of the company's stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 15,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 19,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,572 shares during the last quarter. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RWAY has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $9.50 target price (down from $10.00) on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Runway Growth Finance from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Runway Growth Finance currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.70.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Down 0.3%

RWAY stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.81. 336,858 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 316,100. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $9.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.47. The stock has a market cap of $366.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.63. Runway Growth Finance Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $8.35 and a fifty-two week high of $12.17.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 27.05%. The company had revenue of $35.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.83 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Runway Growth Finance Corp. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Runway Growth Finance's dividend payout ratio is 79.52%.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors.