Short Interest in Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) Declines By 22.2%

Fidus Investment Co. (NASDAQ:FDUS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 158,700 shares, a decrease of 22.2% from the December 15th total of 204,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 209,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fidus Investment

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fidus Investment by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 9,559 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in Fidus Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $274,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Fidus Investment by 37.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 116,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,269,000 after buying an additional 31,426 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in Fidus Investment during the third quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Fidus Investment by 5.5% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,076,000 after buying an additional 2,887 shares in the last quarter. 28.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fidus Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ FDUS traded up $0.27 on Thursday, hitting $21.51. 92,073 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 161,429. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.88 and its 200 day moving average is $20.06. Fidus Investment has a 52 week low of $18.41 and a 52 week high of $21.68. The company has a market capitalization of $729.62 million, a PE ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 1.39.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Fidus Investment had a net margin of 60.09% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The company had revenue of $38.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Fidus Investment will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fidus Investment Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.34%. This is a positive change from Fidus Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Fidus Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.43%.

Fidus Investment Company Profile

Fidus Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializing in leveraged buyouts, refinancings, change of ownership transactions, recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, mezzanine, growth capital, business expansion, lower middle market investments, debt investments, subordinated and second lien loans, senior secured and unitranche debt, preferred equity, warrants, subordinated debt, senior subordinated notes, junior secured loans, and unitranche loans.