Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Stake in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,691,132 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 161,127 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 1.59% of Barings BDC worth $14,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Barings BDC by 1,692.9% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 266,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,379,000 after purchasing an additional 252,079 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Barings BDC in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,252,000. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in Barings BDC in the 3rd quarter valued at $913,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Barings BDC by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 379,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,383,000 after buying an additional 100,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. raised its position in Barings BDC by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,026,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,968,000 after buying an additional 79,150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.09% of the company’s stock.

Barings BDC Stock Up 2.4 %

Barings BDC stock opened at $9.50 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.05. Barings BDC, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.96 and a 1-year high of $9.89. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $75.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.25 million. Barings BDC had a net margin of 44.26% and a return on equity of 10.63%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Barings BDC, Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Barings BDC’s payout ratio is 87.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Barings BDC from $8.50 to $8.75 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th.

Barings BDC Profile

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.