Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 250,100 shares, a growth of 30.8% from the August 15th total of 191,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 186,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fidus Investment in the second quarter worth about $32,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fidus Investment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fidus Investment during the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fidus Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Fidus Investment by 8.7% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 8,974 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the period. 28.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fidus Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ FDUS traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, hitting $20.19. 284,850 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 245,332. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.71. Fidus Investment has a 12-month low of $17.63 and a 12-month high of $20.60. The firm has a market cap of $637.08 million, a P/E ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.40.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. Fidus Investment had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 67.43%. The company had revenue of $35.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fidus Investment will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fidus Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. This is a positive change from Fidus Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fidus Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 59.11%.

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.