Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Prospect Capital from $5.50 to $5.75 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Monday, January 29th.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:PSEC opened at $5.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -26.35 and a beta of 1.00. Prospect Capital has a 52 week low of $5.03 and a 52 week high of $6.84.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $210.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $226.14 million. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 13.48% and a negative net margin of 1.47%. As a group, analysts forecast that Prospect Capital will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.66%. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is -359.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Dask Kristin Lea Van acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.44 per share, for a total transaction of $27,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,400. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 26.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Prospect Capital in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Prospect Capital by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,722 shares in the last quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Prospect Capital in the first quarter worth about $55,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Prospect Capital by 62.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 3,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prospect Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

About Prospect Capital

Prospect Capital Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in middle market, mature, mezzanine finance, later stage, emerging growth, leveraged buyouts, refinancing, acquisitions, recapitalizations, turnaround, growth capital, development, capital expenditures and subordinated debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations, cash flow term loans, market place lending and bridge transactions.