Brokerages Set Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) Price Target at $8.40

Shares of Runway Growth Finance Corp. (NASDAQ:RWAY) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.40.

RWAY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Runway Growth Finance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, June 15th.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Down 0.2%

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $6.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.60. The company has a market cap of $274.93 million, a PE ratio of 59.64 and a beta of 0.66. Runway Growth Finance has a fifty-two week low of $5.19 and a fifty-two week high of $10.92.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.14. Runway Growth Finance had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 5.82%.The business had revenue of $37.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Runway Growth Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.1%. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Carmela Thomson bought 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $6.97 per share, with a total value of $55,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,494.80. The trade was a 165.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RWAY. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC raised its position in Runway Growth Finance by 9.3% during the third quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC now owns 22,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the period. 64.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.