Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) Short Interest Update

Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 212,900 shares, a growth of 33.8% from the October 31st total of 159,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 236,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FDUS. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Fidus Investment by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 725,873 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,140,000 after acquiring an additional 125,011 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Fidus Investment in the second quarter worth approximately $1,521,000. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fidus Investment by 611.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 71,651 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Fidus Investment by 42.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 197,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,908,000 after buying an additional 58,768 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fidus Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at $683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.14% of the company’s stock.

Fidus Investment Price Performance

Shares of FDUS opened at $21.29 on Monday. Fidus Investment has a 1 year low of $18.41 and a 1 year high of $21.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.79. The firm has a market cap of $722.16 million, a P/E ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.40.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Fidus Investment had a net margin of 60.09% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The company had revenue of $38.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fidus Investment will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Fidus Investment Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.46%. This is a positive change from Fidus Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Fidus Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Fidus Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

About Fidus Investment

Fidus Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializing in leveraged buyouts, refinancings, change of ownership transactions, recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, mezzanine, growth capital, business expansion, lower middle market investments, debt investments, subordinated and second lien loans, senior secured and unitranche debt, preferred equity, warrants, subordinated debt, senior subordinated notes, junior secured loans, and unitranche loans.