CION Investment (NYSE:CION) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of CION Investment (NYSE:CION) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on CION Investment from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered CION Investment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CION Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CION Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus price target of $7.00.

CION Investment Price Performance

NYSE:CION opened at $6.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $339.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.24 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.33. CION Investment has a 1-year low of $6.50 and a 1-year high of $11.07.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $53.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.77 million. CION Investment had a positive return on equity of 12.42% and a negative net margin of 8.57%. As a group, analysts expect that CION Investment will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CION Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.9%. CION Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently -307.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CION Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in CION Investment during the third quarter worth $30,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in CION Investment in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CION Investment by 21.7% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of CION Investment by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 5,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CION Investment during the 3rd quarter worth $95,000. 32.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CION Investment Company Profile

CION Investment Corporation is a closed‐end, non‐diversified management investment company organized as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Externally managed by CION Investment Management, LLC, the firm specializes in providing flexible capital solutions to U.S. and Canadian middle‐market companies. By combining debt and equity financing, CION seeks to support growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and other strategic initiatives for its portfolio companies.

The company’s investment strategy centers on senior secured loans, subordinated debt and private equity interests.