Short Interest in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Grows By 31.9%

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 747,600 shares, a growth of 31.9% from the February 28th total of 567,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 521,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Barings BDC by 393.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barings BDC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Barings BDC during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Barings BDC in the 4th quarter valued at about $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Barings BDC Price Performance

BBDC traded down $0.05 on Tuesday, hitting $9.50. 379,463 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 435,088. Barings BDC has a fifty-two week low of $8.95 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.93 and its 200 day moving average is $9.82.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.01). Barings BDC had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 38.54%. The firm had revenue of $70.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.35 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barings BDC will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Barings BDC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Barings BDC Company Profile

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.