Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Plans $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Runway Growth Finance has a dividend payout ratio of 88.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Runway Growth Finance to earn $1.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 87.9%.

Runway Growth Finance Price Performance

Runway Growth Finance stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $12.92. 291,743 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 327,371. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.70. The company has a market capitalization of $523.39 million, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.65. Runway Growth Finance has a 12-month low of $10.47 and a 12-month high of $13.74.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $39.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.26 million. Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 27.00%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RWAY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet downgraded Runway Growth Finance from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. B. Riley downgraded Runway Growth Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $14.50 to $13.50 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Runway Growth Finance from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $13.50 to $12.50 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded Runway Growth Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Runway Growth Finance from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Runway Growth Finance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Runway Growth Finance news, CEO R David Spreng purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.88 per share, for a total transaction of $59,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 64,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,640.16. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO R David Spreng acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.88 per share, for a total transaction of $59,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,640.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ocm Growth Holdings Llc sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.33, for a total value of $11,330,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,492,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $175,526,263.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors.