WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WHF) Increases Dividend to $0.39 Per Share

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WHF) announced a — dividend on Friday, November 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be given a dividend of 0.385 per share by the investment management company on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 13.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This is a boost from WhiteHorse Finance’s previous — dividend of $0.05.

WhiteHorse Finance has raised its dividend by an average of 8.4% per year over the last three years. WhiteHorse Finance has a dividend payout ratio of 104.8% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect WhiteHorse Finance to earn $1.48 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.54 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 104.1%.

WhiteHorse Finance Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WHF traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $11.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 204,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 81,935. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.21. WhiteHorse Finance has a fifty-two week low of $10.95 and a fifty-two week high of $13.44.

WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The investment management company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $23.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.72 million. WhiteHorse Finance had a net margin of 22.73% and a return on equity of 13.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that WhiteHorse Finance will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WHF. StockNews.com raised WhiteHorse Finance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on WhiteHorse Finance from $12.50 to $11.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of WhiteHorse Finance in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WhiteHorse Finance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.75.

Insider Transactions at WhiteHorse Finance

In other WhiteHorse Finance news, Director John Bolduc bought 12,673 shares of WhiteHorse Finance stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.48 per share, with a total value of $145,486.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 224,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,262.48. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

About WhiteHorse Finance

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc is business development company, non-diversified, closed end management company specializing in originating senior secured loans, lower middle market, growth capital industries. It invests in broadline retail, office services and supplies, building products, health care services, health care supplies, research and consulting services, application software, home furnishings, specialized consumer services, data processing and outsourced services, leisure facilities, cable, and satellite.