Short Interest in Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) Declines By 26.2%

Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM – Get Rating) saw a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 107,300 shares, a drop of 26.2% from the April 30th total of 145,300 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 69,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Shares of SCM stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $12.90. 625 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 68,013. Stellus Capital Investment has a fifty-two week low of $12.10 and a fifty-two week high of $14.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $252.14 million, a P/E ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.51.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 11th. The investment management company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.02). Stellus Capital Investment had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 51.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.0933 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 29th. Stellus Capital Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.00%.

In other news, CEO Robert T. Ladd acquired 8,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.86 per share, with a total value of $113,605.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 626,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,057,831.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,600 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 2.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 47,851 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 5.5% during the first quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 27,491 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,915 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 1,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Stellus Capital Investment by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 350,420 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after buying an additional 1,975 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.41% of the company’s stock.

SCM has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Stellus Capital Investment in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Stellus Capital Investment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 23rd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Stellus Capital Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.17.

Stellus Capital Investment Company Profile (Get Rating)

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in private middle-market companies. It invests through first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine debt financing, often with a corresponding equity investment. The fund prefers to invest in US and Canada.

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