Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN) Short Interest Update

Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:GAIN) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 607,649 shares, a decrease of 51.1% from the April 15th total of 1,242,066 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 418,033 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GAIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Gladstone Investment from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Gladstone Investment in a report on Friday, March 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Gladstone Investment from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. B. Riley Financial upgraded Gladstone Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $16.50 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Gladstone Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gladstone Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.75.

Gladstone Investment Stock Down 1.0%

GAIN stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.41. 278,547 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 498,291. Gladstone Investment has a twelve month low of $13.11 and a twelve month high of $17.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.81.

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The investment management company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Gladstone Investment had a net margin of 186.47% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The company had revenue of $25.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.80 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Gladstone Investment will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Gladstone Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. Gladstone Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Gladstone Investment by 2.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,653 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gladstone Investment in the first quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gladstone Investment in the first quarter valued at approximately $355,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Investment by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,460 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Finally, Abel Hall LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gladstone Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

About Gladstone Investment

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ: GAIN) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that focuses on providing debt and equity financing to U.S. middle-market companies. As an externally managed closed-end fund, Gladstone Investment seeks to generate current income and capital appreciation for its shareholders by originating senior secured debt, subordinated debt and equity investments. The firm typically targets established businesses with revenues between $10 million and $150 million, across a range of industry sectors including business services, health care, industrials and specialty manufacturing.

The company’s investment strategy centers on deploying capital through first-lien and second-lien term loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments, often including warrants or other equity kickers.