Stellus Capital Investment Co. (SCM) to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.13 on April 15th

Stellus Capital Investment Co. (NYSE:SCM) announced a monthly dividend on Monday, January 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Saturday, March 29th will be given a dividend of 0.1333 per share by the investment management company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th.

Stellus Capital Investment has increased its dividend by an average of 16.6% annually over the last three years. Stellus Capital Investment has a dividend payout ratio of 112.7% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Stellus Capital Investment to earn $1.45 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 110.3%.

Stellus Capital Investment Price Performance

SCM stock opened at $14.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.10. Stellus Capital Investment has a 52-week low of $12.92 and a 52-week high of $15.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $398.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.07.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The investment management company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.04). Stellus Capital Investment had a net margin of 45.39% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The company had revenue of $25.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.60 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Stellus Capital Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th.

Stellus Capital Investment Company Profile

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in private middle-market companies. It invests through first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine debt financing, often with a corresponding equity investment. The fund prefers to invest in US and Canada.