Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $15.64, but opened at $16.25. Gladstone Investment shares last traded at $16.03, with a volume of 43,493 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Gladstone Investment in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $14.50 to $16.50 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Gladstone Investment from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gladstone Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.75.

Gladstone Investment Trading Up 1.6%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.74. The company has a market cap of $632.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.78.

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The investment management company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). Gladstone Investment had a net margin of 186.47% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The company had revenue of $25.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.80 million. On average, analysts predict that Gladstone Investment Corporation will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Gladstone Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. Gladstone Investment’s payout ratio is presently 20.47%.

Institutional Trading of Gladstone Investment

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GAIN. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gladstone Investment during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gladstone Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Gladstone Investment by 960.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 4,804 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Gladstone Investment in the second quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Gladstone Investment by 272.1% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,946 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

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.