Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) Trading Up 7.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN)’s share price rose 7.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after B. Riley Financial upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. B. Riley Financial now has a $16.50 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $14.50. Gladstone Investment traded as high as $17.00 and last traded at $16.8610. Approximately 214,783 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 319,495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.74.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Gladstone Investment in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Investment

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Melia Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Investment by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Melia Wealth LLC now owns 1,197,594 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $16,551,000 after acquiring an additional 64,564 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Investment by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 854,730 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,812,000 after acquiring an additional 18,089 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Investment by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 713,016 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $9,961,000 after acquiring an additional 228,168 shares during the period. PFG Advisors raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Investment by 206.0% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 305,248 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 205,504 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Investment by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 273,752 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 51,205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Gladstone Investment Trading Up 5.6%

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.28. The firm has a market cap of $661.57 million, a PE ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.81.

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The investment management company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Gladstone Investment had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 186.47%.The firm had revenue of $25.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.80 million. Analysts forecast that Gladstone Investment Corporation will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Gladstone Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. Gladstone Investment’s payout ratio is 30.87%.

About Gladstone Investment

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ: GAIN) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that focuses on providing debt and equity financing to U.S. middle-market companies. As an externally managed closed-end fund, Gladstone Investment seeks to generate current income and capital appreciation for its shareholders by originating senior secured debt, subordinated debt and equity investments. The firm typically targets established businesses with revenues between $10 million and $150 million, across a range of industry sectors including business services, health care, industrials and specialty manufacturing.

The company’s investment strategy centers on deploying capital through first-lien and second-lien term loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments, often including warrants or other equity kickers.