Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) a consensus “Hold” rating (four holds, one buy), with several firms recently upgrading their views while Weiss Ratings continues to rate it a Buy (b-).
• The company pays a monthly $0.08 dividend, implying a ~6.5% yield and a payout ratio around 30.9%, making it attractive to income investors.
• Financial results are mixed: quarterly EPS of $0.21 missed estimates by $0.03 and revenue was slightly below forecasts, yet the stock trades at a low P/E of 4.71 with a market cap near $584 million.

Shares of Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the five ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GAIN. B. Riley Financial reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gladstone Investment in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Gladstone Investment in a research note on Friday, March 27th.

Gladstone Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GAIN opened at $14.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $583.76 million, a P/E ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.91. Gladstone Investment has a 1-year low of $11.65 and a 1-year high of $15.34.

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The investment management company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $25.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.83 million. Gladstone Investment had a return on equity of 6.77% and a net margin of 118.55%. Sell-side analysts expect that Gladstone Investment will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gladstone Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. Gladstone Investment's payout ratio is currently 30.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Investment

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GAIN. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Gladstone Investment by 89.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 484,848 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $6,701,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares during the period. PFG Advisors increased its stake in Gladstone Investment by 206.0% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 305,248 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $4,264,000 after buying an additional 205,504 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Gladstone Investment by 395.5% in the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 88,410 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 70,566 shares during the period. Melia Wealth LLC increased its stake in Gladstone Investment by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 1,197,594 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $16,551,000 after buying an additional 64,564 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Gladstone Investment during the 2nd quarter worth $735,000. 11.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gladstone Investment Company Profile

Gladstone Investment NASDAQ: GAIN is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that focuses on providing debt and equity financing to U.S. middle-market companies. As an externally managed closed-end fund, Gladstone Investment seeks to generate current income and capital appreciation for its shareholders by originating senior secured debt, subordinated debt and equity investments. The firm typically targets established businesses with revenues between $10 million and $150 million, across a range of industry sectors including business services, health care, industrials and specialty manufacturing.

The company's investment strategy centers on deploying capital through first-lien and second-lien term loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments, often including warrants or other equity kickers.

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