Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Runway Growth Finance Corp. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from six analysts, with an average target price of $11.20.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36, significantly increased from its previous dividend of $0.03, resulting in an annualized yield of 14.4%.
• In the last quarter, Runway Growth Finance reported earnings of $0.38 per share, missing the consensus estimate, but achieved revenue of $35.15 million, exceeding analyst expectations.

Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.20.

RWAY has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $12.50 target price (up previously from $11.50) on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Runway Growth Finance to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.50 to $10.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th.

Runway Growth Finance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RWAY opened at $10.02 on Thursday. Runway Growth Finance has a twelve month low of $8.35 and a twelve month high of $11.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $362.92 million, a P/E ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.22.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.01). Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 11.86% and a net margin of 51.03%.The business had revenue of $35.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.27 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This is a positive change from Runway Growth Finance's previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.4%. Runway Growth Finance's payout ratio is presently 69.47%.

Institutional Trading of Runway Growth Finance

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 4.6% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,034 shares of the company's stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 2.2% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,333 shares of the company's stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 18.2% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,252 shares of the company's stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 0.4% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 461,975 shares of the company's stock worth $4,957,000 after buying an additional 1,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 92.6% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.61% of the company's stock.

Runway Growth Finance Company Profile

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.

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