Stellus Capital Investment Co. Plans Monthly Dividend of $0.13 (NYSE:SCM)

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 paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 28th.

Stellus Capital Investment has raised its dividend by an average of 16.6% per year 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. 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

NYSE SCM opened at $14.47 on Wednesday. The stock 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 has a 1-year low of $12.92 and a 1-year high of $15.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.10.

Stellus Capital Investment (NYSE:SCM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The investment management company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $25.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.60 million. Stellus Capital Investment had a net margin of 45.39% and a return on equity of 13.49%. On average, equities analysts predict that Stellus Capital Investment will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About Stellus Capital Investment

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.