CION Investment Corporation (NYSE:CION) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

CION Investment Corporation (NYSE:CION) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 814,224 shares, an increase of 353.5% from the February 26th total of 179,558 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 801,197 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CION shares. Zacks Research cut CION Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of CION Investment from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CION Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CION Investment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $7.00.

CION Investment Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of CION opened at $7.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $353.50 million, a P/E ratio of -17.95 and a beta of 1.09. CION Investment has a twelve month low of $6.50 and a twelve month high of $10.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.28 and a 200-day moving average of $9.19.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $53.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.77 million. CION Investment had a positive return on equity of 12.42% and a negative net margin of 8.57%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CION Investment will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CION Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. CION Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently -307.69%.

Institutional Trading of CION Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CION. North Ground Capital boosted its position in CION Investment by 100.6% during the third quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,002,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,506,000 after purchasing an additional 502,778 shares during the last quarter. Closed End Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CION Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,602,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CION Investment by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,343,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,854,000 after purchasing an additional 338,121 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CION Investment by 406.9% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 317,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,073,000 after purchasing an additional 255,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sherman Porfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CION Investment in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,874,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 32.01% of the company’s stock.

About CION Investment

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.