Short Interest in Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN) Declines By 34.3%

Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 42,500 shares, a drop of 34.3% from the December 31st total of 64,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 53,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company's shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portman Ridge Finance

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Portman Ridge Finance by 7.6% during the third quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 43,140 shares of the company's stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Portman Ridge Finance during the third quarter valued at about $251,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Portman Ridge Finance by 1,340.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 43,166 shares of the company's stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 40,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Portman Ridge Finance by 1.8% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 60,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. 30.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Portman Ridge Finance from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Portman Ridge Finance Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ PTMN traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.00. 25,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,535. Portman Ridge Finance has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $20.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.86. The stock has a market cap of $156.56 million, a P/E ratio of 45.95 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 3.14.

Portman Ridge Finance (NASDAQ:PTMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $15.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.02 million. Portman Ridge Finance had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 5.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Portman Ridge Finance will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Portman Ridge Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Portman Ridge Finance's payout ratio is 745.97%.

About Portman Ridge Finance

Portman Ridge Finance Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in unitranche loans (including last out), first lien loans, second lien loans, subordinated debt, equity co-investment, mezzanine, buyout in middle market companies. It also makes acquisitions in businesses complementary to the firm's business.