Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gladstone Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Gladstone Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $14.50 to $16.50 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gladstone Investment from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Gladstone Investment from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $16.75.

Gladstone Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GAIN opened at $16.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $658.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.77. Gladstone Investment has a 52-week low of $13.11 and a 52-week high of $17.14.

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The investment management company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Gladstone Investment had a net margin of 158.95% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The business had revenue of $25.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.80 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gladstone Investment will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Gladstone Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Gladstone Investment by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 75,638 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 4,826 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Gladstone Investment by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 19,626 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Gladstone Investment in the 1st quarter worth $302,000. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Gladstone Investment in the 1st quarter worth $261,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Gladstone Investment by 960.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 4,804 shares in the last quarter. 11.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gladstone Investment

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ: GAIN) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that focuses on providing debt and equity financing to U.S. middle-market companies. As an externally managed closed-end fund, Gladstone Investment seeks to generate current income and capital appreciation for its shareholders by originating senior secured debt, subordinated debt and equity investments. The firm typically targets established businesses with revenues between $10 million and $150 million, across a range of industry sectors including business services, health care, industrials and specialty manufacturing.

The company’s investment strategy centers on deploying capital through first-lien and second-lien term loans, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments, often including warrants or other equity kickers.