BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TCPC) Short Interest Up 57.4% in March

BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TCPC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,590,000 shares, a growth of 57.4% from the February 28th total of 1,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 647,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

BlackRock TCP Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TCPC opened at $7.99 on Friday. BlackRock TCP Capital has a twelve month low of $7.67 and a twelve month high of $11.52. The company has a current ratio of 39.37, a quick ratio of 39.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.66. The company has a market capitalization of $679.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 1.55.

BlackRock TCP Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. BlackRock TCP Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently -133.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock TCP Capital

In other BlackRock TCP Capital news, CEO Philip M. Tseng purchased 10,000 shares of BlackRock TCP Capital stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $7.74 per share, for a total transaction of $77,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,663.38. The trade was a 34.98 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Patrick Wolfe purchased 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.12 per share, for a total transaction of $49,532.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,984.36. This trade represents a 320.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 18,500 shares of company stock worth $146,444. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock TCP Capital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TCPC. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock TCP Capital by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,202,733 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $19,186,000 after acquiring an additional 95,603 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock TCP Capital by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,432,456 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $12,477,000 after purchasing an additional 209,898 shares during the period. TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock TCP Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $5,268,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock TCP Capital by 623.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 558,815 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,867,000 after purchasing an additional 481,581 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in BlackRock TCP Capital by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 485,458 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,024,000 after purchasing an additional 17,218 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock TCP Capital from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackRock TCP Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock TCP Capital from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.67.

BlackRock TCP Capital Company Profile

BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. is a business development company specializing in direct equity and debt investments in middle-market, small businesses, debt securities, senior secured loans, junior loans, originated loans, mezzanine, senior debt instruments, bonds, and secondary-market investments. It typically invests in communication services, public relations services, television, wireless telecommunication services, apparel, textile mills, restaurants, retailing, energy, oil and gas extraction, Patent owners and Lessors, Federal and Federally- Sponsored Credit agencies, insurance, hospital and healthcare centers, Biotechnology, engineering services, heavy electrical equipment, tax accounting, scientific and related consulting services, charter freight air transportation, Information technology consulting, application hosting services, software diagram and design, computer aided design, communication equipment, electronics manufacturing equipment, computer components, chemicals.