Golub Capital BDC, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBDC) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Golub Capital BDC, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBDC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

A number of research firms recently commented on GBDC. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Golub Capital BDC in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Capital One Financial set a $15.00 target price on Golub Capital BDC in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Golub Capital BDC from $15.50 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Golub Capital BDC from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Golub Capital BDC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Golub Capital BDC

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Golub Capital BDC by 2.9% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 16,237,782 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $222,295,000 after buying an additional 450,126 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Golub Capital BDC by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,843,816 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,312,000 after purchasing an additional 401,723 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Golub Capital BDC by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,829,788 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $52,430,000 after purchasing an additional 207,998 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Golub Capital BDC by 2.0% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,378,657 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $45,578,000 after purchasing an additional 65,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Golub Capital BDC by 10.5% in the second quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,033,453 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $44,440,000 after purchasing an additional 287,391 shares during the last quarter. 42.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Golub Capital BDC Stock Performance

GBDC stock opened at $13.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.24. Golub Capital BDC has a 12-month low of $12.68 and a 12-month high of $16.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Golub Capital BDC (NASDAQ:GBDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 18th. The investment management company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39. The firm had revenue of $217.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.54 million. Golub Capital BDC had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 43.25%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Golub Capital BDC will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Golub Capital BDC Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.3%. Golub Capital BDC’s payout ratio is currently 109.86%.

About Golub Capital BDC

Golub Capital BDC (NASDAQ: GBDC) is a publicly traded business development company specializing in providing debt and equity financing solutions to middle-market companies in the United States. Externally managed by Golub Capital LLC, the firm focuses on building a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans, unitranche facilities and second-lien debt instruments designed to support growth, acquisitions and recapitalizations. As a closed-end investment vehicle, GBDC offers investors direct exposure to private credit strategies within a regulated structure.

The company’s core business activities center on originating and managing bespoke financing arrangements for U.S.