Barings BDC, Inc. (BBDC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.26 on June 12th

Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th.

Barings BDC has increased its dividend by an average of 16.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Barings BDC has a payout ratio of 88.9% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Research analysts expect Barings BDC to earn $1.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 88.9%.

Barings BDC Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBDC traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $9.72. 232,764 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 479,583. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.07. Barings BDC has a 12 month low of $7.17 and a 12 month high of $9.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, May 4th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.02). Barings BDC had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 44.26%. The company had revenue of $69.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Barings BDC will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Barings BDC from $8.50 to $8.75 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th.

About Barings BDC

Barings BDC, Inc is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries.