Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AINV) shares fell 6.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $10.58 and last traded at $10.46, 38,983 shares were traded during mid-day trading. A decline of 96% from the average session volume of 1,035,147 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.19.
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AINV shares. TheStreet upgraded Apollo Investment from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. ValuEngine upgraded Apollo Investment from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Co cut Apollo Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $17.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BidaskClub cut Apollo Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut Apollo Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.40.
The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.50. The stock has a market cap of $744.65 million, a PE ratio of 5.49, a PEG ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.
Apollo Investment (NASDAQ:AINV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $68.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.49 million. Apollo Investment had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 23.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apollo Investment Corp. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 6th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 19th. Apollo Investment’s payout ratio is 99.45%.
In other news, CEO Howard Widra purchased 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.18 per share, with a total value of $223,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 94,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,058,142.28. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AINV. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Apollo Investment by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 671,277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,720,000 after buying an additional 97,089 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,640,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,529,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,380,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $909,000. 37.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Apollo Investment (NASDAQ:AINV)
Apollo Investment Corporation is business development company specializing in middle market companies. It provides direct equity capital, mezzanine and senior secured loans, unsecured debt, and subordinated debt and loans. It also seeks to invest in PIPES transactions. The fund may also invest in securities of public companies that are thinly traded and may acquire investments in the secondary market and structured products.