Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM) Shareholders to Receive $0.08 Monthly Dividend

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.0833 per share by the investment management company on Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th.

Stellus Capital Investment has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years. Stellus Capital Investment has a payout ratio of 79.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Stellus Capital Investment to earn $1.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 96.2%.

Stellus Capital Investment Price Performance

Shares of SCM opened at $7.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.64 million, a PE ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. Stellus Capital Investment has a 1-year low of $6.83 and a 1-year high of $13.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $8.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.55.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The investment management company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.26. The firm had revenue of $30.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.38 million. Stellus Capital Investment had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 30.66%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Stellus Capital Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SCM. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Stellus Capital Investment by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 281,166 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,565,000 after purchasing an additional 7,066 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,398,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,009,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stellus Capital Investment by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 154,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after buying an additional 8,440 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $922,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.22% of the company’s stock.

About Stellus Capital Investment

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company (BDC) that provides financing to privately owned, middle-market companies. The company seeks to generate income and long-term capital appreciation primarily through investments in debt securities and, to a lesser extent, equity interests.

Its portfolio may include senior secured loans, unitranche debt, subordinated debt and other structured investments. Stellus typically works with companies that require capital for acquisitions, recapitalizations, growth initiatives, refinancings and other corporate purposes.