WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (WHF) to Issue — Dividend of $0.39 on January 3rd

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WHF) announced a — dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.385 per share by the investment management company on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a yield of 13.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. This is a boost from WhiteHorse Finance’s previous — dividend of $0.05.

WhiteHorse Finance has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.4% per year over the last three years. WhiteHorse Finance has a payout ratio of 105.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect WhiteHorse Finance to earn $1.46 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.54 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 105.5%.

WhiteHorse Finance Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of WHF opened at $10.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $246.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 1.24. WhiteHorse Finance has a 52 week low of $10.35 and a 52 week high of $13.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of WhiteHorse Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer cut shares of WhiteHorse Finance from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of WhiteHorse Finance in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WhiteHorse Finance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.25.

WhiteHorse Finance Company Profile

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc is business development company, non-diversified, closed end management company specializing in originating senior secured loans, lower middle market, growth capital industries. It invests in broadline retail, office services and supplies, building products, health care services, health care supplies, research and consulting services, application software, home furnishings, specialized consumer services, data processing and outsourced services, leisure facilities, cable, and satellite.