Bank of America Downgrades Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) to Underperform

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) was downgraded by Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $5.50 target price on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 8.79% from the stock’s previous close.

RWAY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $9.50 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. B. Riley Financial cut their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.20.

Runway Growth Finance Price Performance

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $6.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $256.06 million, a P/E ratio of -67.00 and a beta of 0.64. Runway Growth Finance has a 1-year low of $5.89 and a 1-year high of $11.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $29.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.47 million. Runway Growth Finance had a negative net margin of 2.00% and a positive return on equity of 10.87%. Research analysts anticipate that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 4.6% during the 2nd 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 grew its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Runway Growth Finance

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.