Runway Growth Finance’s (RWAY) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial reiterated their buy rating on shares of Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. B. Riley Financial currently has a $11.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $10.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on RWAY. Bank of America downgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $9.00 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Runway Growth Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Runway Growth Finance from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Runway Growth Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.40.

Runway Growth Finance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RWAY opened at $6.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $290.02 million, a PE ratio of 62.91 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.73 and its 200 day moving average is $6.74. Runway Growth Finance has a fifty-two week low of $5.19 and a fifty-two week high of $10.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

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

Runway Growth Finance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 19.1%. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio is 1,200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Runway Growth Finance during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 92.6% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 74,437.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares during the period. 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.