Bulldog Investors LLP Reduces Holdings in Barings Bdc, Inc. $BBDC

Bulldog Investors LLP reduced its position in Barings Bdc, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) by 68.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,422 shares of the company’s stock after selling 143,079 shares during the quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP owned about 0.06% of Barings Bdc worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ares Management LLC boosted its stake in Barings Bdc by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 3,797,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,706,000 after purchasing an additional 190,016 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Barings Bdc by 4.1% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,284,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,772,000 after buying an additional 128,200 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Barings Bdc by 5.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,479,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,725,000 after buying an additional 136,541 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barings Bdc by 36.3% in the third quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,141,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,764,000 after buying an additional 570,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Barings Bdc by 2.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,208,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,586,000 after buying an additional 27,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Barings Bdc from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Barings Bdc presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.67.

Barings Bdc Stock Performance

Shares of Barings Bdc stock opened at $8.09 on Friday. Barings Bdc, Inc. has a one year low of $7.66 and a one year high of $9.92. The company has a market cap of $846.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.97.

Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $65.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.66 million. Barings Bdc had a return on equity of 10.05% and a net margin of 36.50%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Barings Bdc, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Barings Bdc Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.9%. Barings Bdc’s payout ratio is presently 107.22%.

Barings Bdc Company Profile

Barings BDC Inc (NYSE: BBDC) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides flexible financing solutions to middle-market companies. As an investment vehicle organized under the Investment Company Act of 1940, BBDC seeks to generate both current income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in senior secured loans, second lien loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The company targets established businesses across a diverse range of industries, including healthcare, industrials, consumer products and business services.

The company is sponsored and managed by Barings LLC, a global investment manager and subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual).