Stellus Capital Investment Corporation to Issue -- Dividend of $0.13 (NYSE:SCM)

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM - Get Free Report) declared a -- dividend on Friday, July 4th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.1333 per share by the investment management company on Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a yield of 11.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th.

Stellus Capital Investment has a payout ratio of 127.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Stellus Capital Investment to earn $1.45 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 110.3%.

Stellus Capital Investment Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCM remained flat at $14.44 during midday trading on Monday. 118,101 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 156,262. The company has a market capitalization of $410.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.88. Stellus Capital Investment has a twelve month low of $11.19 and a twelve month high of $15.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The investment management company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37. Stellus Capital Investment had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 36.35%. The firm had revenue of $24.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.76 million. Research analysts expect that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Stellus Capital Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Stellus Capital Investment from $13.50 to $13.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Institutional Trading of Stellus Capital Investment

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Stellus Capital Investment stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM - Free Report) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,882 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,808 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.10% of Stellus Capital Investment worth $390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 13.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Stellus Capital Investment

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in private middle-market companies. It invests through first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine debt financing, often with a corresponding equity investment. The fund prefers to invest in US and Canada.