Short Interest in Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN) Decreases By 18.6%

Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 116,900 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 143,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 46,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portman Ridge Finance

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PTMN. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Portman Ridge Finance in the 4th quarter worth $1,702,000. Founders Financial Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Portman Ridge Finance by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 62,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after buying an additional 3,671 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in Portman Ridge Finance by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 65,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 21,859 shares during the last quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Portman Ridge Finance by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 29,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 6,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bulldog Investors LLP boosted its position in Portman Ridge Finance by 155.0% during the 4th quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP now owns 216,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,539,000 after acquiring an additional 131,630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 30.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Portman Ridge Finance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Portman Ridge Finance Price Performance

PTMN opened at $12.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $110.56 million, a P/E ratio of 32.49 and a beta of 0.64. Portman Ridge Finance has a 12 month low of $11.60 and a 12 month high of $20.84. The company has a quick ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.51.

Portman Ridge Finance (NASDAQ:PTMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.08). Portman Ridge Finance had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 5.47%. The business had revenue of $14.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.14 million. On average, research analysts expect that Portman Ridge Finance will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Portman Ridge Finance Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 24th. Portman Ridge Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -293.75%.

Portman Ridge Finance Company Profile

Portman Ridge Finance Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in unitranche loans (including last out), first lien loans, second lien loans, subordinated debt, equity co-investment, mezzanine, buyout in middle market companies. It also makes acquisitions in businesses complementary to the firm's business.