Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN) Short Interest Up 17.3% in October

Portman Ridge Finance Co. (NASDAQ:PTMN) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 32,500 shares, an increase of 17.3% from the September 30th total of 27,700 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 43,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Portman Ridge Finance Price Performance

Portman Ridge Finance stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.40. 39,485 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,999. Portman Ridge Finance has a 52 week low of $16.27 and a 52 week high of $20.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 4.40 and a current ratio of 4.40. The firm has a market cap of $170.09 million, a PE ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.41 and its 200-day moving average is $19.09.

Portman Ridge Finance (NASDAQ:PTMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Portman Ridge Finance had a net margin of 18.14% and a return on equity of 14.86%. The firm had revenue of $16.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Portman Ridge Finance will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Portman Ridge Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.00%. Portman Ridge Finance’s payout ratio is currently 210.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PTMN. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Portman Ridge Finance by 1.8% during the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 59,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter valued at $787,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance in the second quarter worth $272,000. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its stake in Portman Ridge Finance by 74.2% in the second quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 49,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 21,273 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.14% of the company’s stock.

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.