B. Riley Financial Upgrades WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) to “Buy”

WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) was upgraded by investment analysts at B. Riley Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $9.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock. B. Riley Financial‘s target price points to a potential upside of 11.75% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of WhiteHorse Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $9.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on WhiteHorse Finance from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WhiteHorse Finance from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.50.

WhiteHorse Finance Price Performance

Shares of WHF traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.05. The stock had a trading volume of 163,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,519. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $7.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.04. WhiteHorse Finance has a 52 week low of $6.07 and a 52 week high of $8.53. The company has a market capitalization of $173.00 million, a P/E ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The investment management company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). WhiteHorse Finance had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 26.88%. The business had revenue of $14.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.66 million. On average, analysts forecast that WhiteHorse Finance will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WhiteHorse Finance

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of WhiteHorse Finance during the 3rd quarter worth about $123,000. Covestor Ltd bought a new position in shares of WhiteHorse Finance in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Arlington Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of WhiteHorse Finance during the 3rd quarter worth $185,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of WhiteHorse Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $1,240,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in WhiteHorse Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,172,000. 13.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WhiteHorse Finance News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting WhiteHorse Finance this week:

• Positive Sentiment: WhiteHorse declared a quarterly distribution of $0.25 per share, equal to $1.00 annualized and a stated yield of 12.3%. The distribution is payable January 6 to shareholders of record December 21. Press release
• Neutral Sentiment: Management expects a sale of Chase in the next two to four months, while a special committee’s review continues. A potential sale could bring clarity, but the review and timing leave uncertainty. Chase sale update
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter EPS was $0.22, below analyst estimates of $0.24–$0.25 and down from $0.26 a year earlier. Revenue of $14.83 million also missed expectations of $15.19 million, signaling weaker-than-expected quarterly performance. Q3 earnings report
• Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target from $6.50 to $7.50 but kept an “underweight” rating, indicating it still sees downside relative to the cited $7.89 share price.

WhiteHorse Finance Company Profile

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. is a business development company that provides financing to privately owned, middle-market businesses in the United States. The company primarily invests in senior secured loans, including first-lien and unitranche loans, and may also provide second-lien and subordinated debt financing. In addition to debt investments, WhiteHorse Finance may make equity investments and co-investments alongside its lending activities. Its portfolio generally supports acquisitions, recapitalizations, refinancings, growth initiatives and other corporate purposes for middle-market companies across a range of industries.