Zacks Research Upgrades Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) to Hold

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

RWAY has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings cut Runway Growth Finance from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Bank of America lowered Runway Growth Finance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $9.00 to $5.50 in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Runway Growth Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.20.

Runway Growth Finance Trading Up 1.2%

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $6.78 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. Runway Growth Finance has a 12 month low of $5.19 and a 12 month high of $11.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.76. The firm has a market cap of $284.15 million, a PE ratio of 61.64 and a beta of 0.66.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.14. Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $37.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 million. Analysts anticipate that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Ground Capital boosted its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 102.5% during the 4th quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,569,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,012,000 after acquiring an additional 794,050 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Runway Growth Finance by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 638,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,702,000 after purchasing an additional 231,744 shares during the period. SBE LLC DBA Cedar Cove Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Runway Growth Finance in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,693,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 509,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,547,000 after purchasing an additional 175,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,843,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,534,000 after buying an additional 171,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.61% of the company’s stock.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance, Inc is a publicly traded business development company that provides customized debt and equity financing solutions to high?growth, venture?backed companies. The firm specializes in structuring senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, second?lien financings, convertible notes and equity co?investments designed to extend the cash runway for late?stage companies. Runway’s flexible capital offerings are aimed at supporting technology, life sciences and other innovation?driven sectors as they pursue growth initiatives and prepare for liquidity events.

Originally launched in 2017 under the name Saratoga Investment Corp., the company rebranded as Runway Growth Finance in 2020 following the acquisition of an established middle?market credit manager.