Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Position Increased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,691,132 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,127 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Barings BDC were worth $14,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Barings BDC by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,026,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,968,000 after acquiring an additional 79,150 shares during the period. Dimension Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Barings BDC by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 807,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,195,000 after purchasing an additional 55,232 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Barings BDC by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 655,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,844,000 after purchasing an additional 19,909 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Barings BDC by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 395,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,528,000 after purchasing an additional 23,655 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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. 44.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Barings BDC Price Performance

NYSE BBDC opened at $9.50 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.05. Barings BDC, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.96 and a 52 week high of $9.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

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

Barings BDC Company 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.