Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Position in Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 116,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,426 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of Fidus Investment worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FDUS. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Fidus Investment during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fidus Investment in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Fidus Investment by 23.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in shares of Fidus Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at $268,000. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Fidus Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at $335,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.14% of the company’s stock.

Fidus Investment Stock Performance

Shares of Fidus Investment stock opened at $20.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $708.82 million, a P/E ratio of 7.46 and a beta of 1.39. Fidus Investment Co. has a 1 year low of $18.41 and a 1 year high of $21.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $20.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.93.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Fidus Investment had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 60.09%. The firm had revenue of $38.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fidus Investment Co. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Fidus Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Fidus Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Fidus Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 61.43%.

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.