Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) Raised to Strong-Buy at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports. B. Riley also issued estimates for Runway Growth Finance’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.39 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.39 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.53 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $9.50 target price (down from $10.00) on shares of Runway Growth Finance in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Compass Point lifted their price objective on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Runway Growth Finance from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.70.

Runway Growth Finance Trading Up 1.7%

Runway Growth Finance stock opened at $10.33 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.55 and a 200-day moving average of $10.44. Runway Growth Finance has a one year low of $8.35 and a one year high of $12.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $385.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 0.68.

Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $35.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.83 million. Runway Growth Finance had a net margin of 45.30% and a return on equity of 11.95%. On average, equities analysts expect that Runway Growth Finance will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Runway Growth Finance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.78%. Runway Growth Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Runway Growth Finance

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RWAY. Allium Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Runway Growth Finance during the first quarter worth $10,568,000. CF Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance during the fourth quarter worth about $9,290,000. Bulldog Investors LLP increased its position in shares of Runway Growth Finance by 143.5% during the fourth quarter. Bulldog Investors LLP now owns 802,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,802,000 after acquiring an additional 472,799 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Runway Growth Finance during the first quarter worth about $4,551,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC boosted its holdings in Runway Growth Finance by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 920,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,093,000 after purchasing an additional 398,547 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.61% of the company’s stock.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors.