Capital Southwest Co. (NASDAQ:CSWC) Short Interest Update

Capital Southwest Co. (NASDAQ:CSWC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,440,000 shares, an increase of 27.7% from the March 15th total of 1,910,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 597,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 5.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Capital Southwest from $23.50 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Capital Southwest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Capital Southwest

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Capital Southwest during the 4th quarter valued at $21,846,000. Sanders Morris Harris LLC raised its stake in shares of Capital Southwest by 75.9% during the 1st quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 1,433,064 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,986,000 after purchasing an additional 618,480 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Capital Southwest by 1,481.6% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 490,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,698,000 after purchasing an additional 459,291 shares during the period. Epiq Partners LLC purchased a new position in Capital Southwest during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,701,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of Capital Southwest by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 673,778 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,702,000 after buying an additional 200,060 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.42% of the company’s stock.

Capital Southwest Stock Performance

CSWC stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.68. The company had a trading volume of 428,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,225. Capital Southwest has a 12 month low of $17.46 and a 12 month high of $27.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.65. The firm has a market cap of $995.45 million, a PE ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18.

Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Capital Southwest had a return on equity of 15.18% and a net margin of 33.49%. On average, analysts forecast that Capital Southwest will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Capital Southwest Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.79%. Capital Southwest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 164.54%.

About Capital Southwest

Capital Southwest Corporation is a business development company specializing in credit and private equity and venture capital investments in middle market companies, mezzanine, later stage, mature, late venture, emerging growth, buyouts, industry consolidation, recapitalizations and growth capital investments.