Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday.

RWAY has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research cut shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. B. Riley Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $9.50 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.00.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:RWAY opened at $6.87 on Friday. Runway Growth Finance has a 1 year low of $6.58 and a 1 year high of $11.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.03. The stock has a market cap of $248.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.04). Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 24.79%.The business had revenue of $30.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.60 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 19.2%. Runway Growth Finance’s payout ratio is presently 143.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 4.6% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Runway Growth Finance by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Runway Growth Finance by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Runway Growth Finance by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC now owns 22,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Runway Growth Finance Company Profile

Runway Growth Finance, Inc is a publicly traded business development company that provides customized debt and equity financing solutions to high‐growth, venture‐backed companies. The firm specializes in structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, second‐lien financings, convertible notes and equity co‐investments designed to extend the cash runway for late‐stage companies. Runway’s flexible capital offerings are aimed at supporting technology, life sciences and other innovation‐driven sectors as they pursue growth initiatives and prepare for liquidity events.

Originally launched in 2017 under the name Saratoga Investment Corp., the company rebranded as Runway Growth Finance in 2020 following the acquisition of an established middle‐market credit manager.