Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 56,449 Shares of Fidus Investment Corporation $FDUS

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Fidus Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:FDUS) by 6.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 903,443 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 56,449 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Fidus Investment were worth $18,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Fidus Investment by 2.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 20,859 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its holdings in Fidus Investment by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,305 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Fidus Investment by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Fidus Investment by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 13,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Fidus Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.14% of the company’s stock.

Fidus Investment Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ FDUS traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $17.72. The company had a trading volume of 77,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,906. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.00 and its 200-day moving average is $19.78. The stock has a market cap of $672.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 0.72. Fidus Investment Corporation has a 52 week low of $16.70 and a 52 week high of $22.09.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $32.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.46 million. Fidus Investment had a return on equity of 10.71% and a net margin of 52.87%. As a group, analysts forecast that Fidus Investment Corporation will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Fidus Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.7%. Fidus Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FDUS shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fidus Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Fidus Investment from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.25.

Fidus Investment Company Profile

Fidus Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: FDUS) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company (BDC) that provides specialized financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. Operated by Fidus Investment Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser, the company is regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The firm focuses on structuring senior secured and unitranche loans, mezzanine debt and equity investments for established businesses across a range of industries.