Short Interest in Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) Increases By 41.1%

Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 461,100 shares, a growth of 41.1% from the February 13th total of 326,800 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 167,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCM. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Stellus Capital Investment in the third quarter worth about $223,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Stellus Capital Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $226,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Stellus Capital Investment by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,949 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 6,197 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Stellus Capital Investment during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its holdings in Stellus Capital Investment by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 64,339 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. 13.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Stellus Capital Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Stellus Capital Investment Stock Performance

NYSE SCM traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $14.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 209,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.07. Stellus Capital Investment has a 12 month low of $12.92 and a 12 month high of $15.56. The company has a market cap of $391.47 million, a P/E ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.07.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The investment management company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.04). Stellus Capital Investment had a net margin of 45.39% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $25.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stellus Capital Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.1333 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 10.88%. Stellus Capital Investment’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

Stellus Capital Investment Company Profile

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.