Great Elm Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:GECC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Great Elm Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:GECC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,300 shares, an increase of 5.1% from the May 15th total of 11,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 19,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Elm Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GECC. Cruiser Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Great Elm Capital by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Cruiser Capital Advisors LLC now owns 95,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 21,422 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Great Elm Capital by 99.8% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 43,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 21,871 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Great Elm Capital by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 27,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 3,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Great Elm Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.75% of the company’s stock.

Great Elm Capital Stock Performance

Shares of GECC stock opened at $10.08 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.56. Great Elm Capital has a 52 week low of $7.54 and a 52 week high of $11.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $95.26 million, a PE ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 1.57.

Great Elm Capital (NASDAQ:GECC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). Great Elm Capital had a net margin of 46.02% and a return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $8.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Great Elm Capital will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Great Elm Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Great Elm Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.64%.

About Great Elm Capital

Great Elm Capital Corp. is a business development company which specializes in loan and mezzanine, middle market investments. It invests in the debt instruments of middle market companies. The fund prefers to invest in media, commercial services and supplies, healthcare, telecommunication services, communications equipment.