AFC Gamma, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFCG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

AFC Gamma, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFCG) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 488,800 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the September 15th total of 451,200 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 205,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AFC Gamma in the 1st quarter worth about $7,001,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of AFC Gamma by 11.6% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 640,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,931,000 after buying an additional 66,702 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of AFC Gamma by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 134,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AFC Gamma by 88.0% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 46,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 21,915 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AFC Gamma by 9.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 279,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,519,000 after purchasing an additional 24,506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFCG has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AFC Gamma in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Seaport Res Ptn raised AFC Gamma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on AFC Gamma from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Compass Point upgraded shares of AFC Gamma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.00.

AFC Gamma Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AFCG opened at $10.40 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.95. The company has a current ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. AFC Gamma has a 12 month low of $8.06 and a 12 month high of $13.35. The company has a market cap of $214.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 1.05.

AFC Gamma (NASDAQ:AFCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $19.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.48 million. AFC Gamma had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 21.97%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AFC Gamma will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

AFC Gamma Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. AFC Gamma’s payout ratio is 253.85%.

About AFC Gamma

AFC Gamma, Inc originates, structures, underwrites, and invests in senior secured loans, and other various commercial real estate loans and debt securities for established companies operating in the cannabis industry. It primarily originates loans structured as senior loans secured by real estate, equipment, and licenses and/or other assets of the loan parties to the extent permitted by applicable laws and the regulations governing such loan parties.