Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) Announces Monthly Dividend of $0.13

Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) declared a monthly dividend on Wednesday, April 3rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of 0.1333 per share by the investment management company on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th.

Stellus Capital Investment has increased its dividend payment by an average of 18.0% per year over the last three years. Stellus Capital Investment has a dividend payout ratio of 94.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities research analysts expect Stellus Capital Investment to earn $1.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.6%.

Stellus Capital Investment Price Performance

NYSE:SCM opened at $13.69 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.34. Stellus Capital Investment has a 1-year low of $12.19 and a 1-year high of $15.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $330.22 million, a PE ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.15.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The investment management company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $26.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.98 million. Stellus Capital Investment had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 24.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Stellus Capital Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Stellus Capital Investment in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Stellus Capital Investment from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $12.50 to $13.25 in a research report on Monday, May 13th.

About Stellus Capital Investment

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in private middle-market companies. It invests through first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine debt financing, often with a corresponding equity investment. The fund prefers to invest in US and Canada.