Horizon Technology Finance Co. (NASDAQ:HRZN) Short Interest Down 14.8% in August

Horizon Technology Finance Co. (NASDAQ:HRZN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 646,700 shares, a decline of 14.8% from the August 15th total of 759,200 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 240,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HRZN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Horizon Technology Finance from $9.50 to $9.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. B. Riley reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $10.00) on shares of Horizon Technology Finance in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Horizon Technology Finance has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.70.

Horizon Technology Finance Price Performance

NASDAQ HRZN traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.90. The stock had a trading volume of 270,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,024. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.59. Horizon Technology Finance has a 1 year low of $10.51 and a 1 year high of $13.73. The stock has a market cap of $381.73 million, a PE ratio of -25.93 and a beta of 1.23.

Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.02. Horizon Technology Finance had a positive return on equity of 17.39% and a negative net margin of 21.19%. The firm had revenue of $25.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Horizon Technology Finance will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Horizon Technology Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 17th. Horizon Technology Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -314.29%.

Institutional Trading of Horizon Technology Finance

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Horizon Technology Finance by 4.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 23,776 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. ETF Store Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Horizon Technology Finance by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 48,806 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Horizon Technology Finance in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Horizon Technology Finance in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Horizon Technology Finance by 17.5% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 32,204 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795 shares during the last quarter. 4.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Horizon Technology Finance Company Profile

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation is a business development company specializing in lending and and investing in development-stage investments. It focuses on making secured debt and venture lending investments to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, cleantech and sustainability industries.