Insider Buying: Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Director Acquires 8,700 Shares of Stock

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Director Stephen R. Byers acquired 8,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.89 per share, with a total value of $77,343.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 59,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,035.26. This represents a 17.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Barings BDC Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBDC opened at $8.89 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.47. Barings BDC, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.66 and a 52 week high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $937.09 million, a PE ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 0.71.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.03). Barings BDC had a net margin of 38.54% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $64.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.78 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Barings BDC, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.70%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BBDC shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Barings BDC from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Barings BDC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $8.50 to $9.50 in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Barings BDC from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Barings BDC by 0.4% in the first quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,096,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,540,000 after buying an additional 12,208 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Barings BDC by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,347,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,470,000 after buying an additional 79,994 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Barings BDC by 13.4% in the first quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,959,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,698,000 after buying an additional 231,356 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Barings BDC by 1.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,105,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,549,000 after buying an additional 13,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Barings BDC by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,073,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,238,000 after purchasing an additional 6,540 shares during the last quarter. 44.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.