Insider Buying: Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) CFO Buys 3,400 Shares of Stock

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) CFO Elizabeth A. Murray bought 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.84 per share, with a total value of $30,056.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 25,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,421.08. This represents a 15.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Barings BDC Stock Performance

NYSE:BBDC opened at $9.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $961.86 million, a P/E ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.78 and its 200-day moving average is $9.46. Barings BDC, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.66 and a 1-year high of $10.85.

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

Barings BDC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.40%. Barings BDC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.64%.

Institutional Trading of Barings BDC

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Barings BDC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,542,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Barings BDC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,891,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Barings BDC by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 705,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,753,000 after acquiring an additional 324,945 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Barings BDC in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,878,000. Finally, Icon Advisers Inc. Co. bought a new stake in Barings BDC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,577,000. 44.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on BBDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Barings BDC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $8.50 to $9.50 in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Barings BDC from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Barings BDC from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

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.