Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in CION Investment Co. (NYSE:CION)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of CION Investment Co. (NYSE:CION) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 298,858 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,129 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CION Investment were worth $3,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in CION Investment by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,329,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,160,000 after buying an additional 21,825 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of CION Investment by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 667,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,614,000 after acquiring an additional 16,417 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CION Investment in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,899,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CION Investment by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 504,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,750,000 after purchasing an additional 62,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in CION Investment by 13.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 358,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,261,000 after purchasing an additional 43,076 shares during the period. 32.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $11.00) on shares of CION Investment in a research report on Monday, March 17th.

CION Investment Stock Performance

CION stock opened at $10.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $573.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.69. CION Investment Co. has a 52-week low of $10.54 and a 52-week high of $12.71.

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). CION Investment had a return on equity of 11.49% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $87.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.11 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CION Investment Co. will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CION Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.32%. CION Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 228.57%.

CION Investment Profile

CION Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in investments in senior secured loans, including unitranche loans, First Lien, second lien loans, long-term subordinated loans, and mezzanine loans; equity interests such as warrants or options; and corporate bonds; and other debt securities in middle-market companies.