CION Investment (NYSE:CION) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CION Investment (NYSE:CION) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised CION Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CION Investment in a report on Monday, December 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

CION Investment Price Performance

CION stock opened at $9.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $493.03 million, a PE ratio of 18.56 and a beta of 1.07. CION Investment has a 12 month low of $8.51 and a 12 month high of $12.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.82.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.39. CION Investment had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 10.59%.The company had revenue of $78.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.41 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CION Investment will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

CION Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. CION Investment’s payout ratio is 282.35%.

Institutional Trading of CION Investment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CION. Quarry LP purchased a new position in CION Investment during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in CION Investment in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CION Investment during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CION Investment during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of CION Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. 32.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CION Investment Company Profile

CION Investment Corporation is a closed‐end, non‐diversified management investment company organized as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Externally managed by CION Investment Management, LLC, the firm specializes in providing flexible capital solutions to U.S. and Canadian middle‐market companies. By combining debt and equity financing, CION seeks to support growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and other strategic initiatives for its portfolio companies.

The company’s investment strategy centers on senior secured loans, subordinated debt and private equity interests.