Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.43% and a negative net margin of 36.07%.

Prospect Capital Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PSEC traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $2.83. 7,616,848 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,094,309. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -3.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $3.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.59. Prospect Capital has a fifty-two week low of $2.73 and a fifty-two week high of $5.57.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 1,588.0%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently -62.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Prospect Capital currently has an average rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $3.00.

Insider Activity at Prospect Capital

In related news, CEO John F. Barry acquired 623,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.19 per share, with a total value of $1,988,327.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 83,266,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,618,622.94. The trade was a 0.75% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 28.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSEC. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 92.2% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 11,788 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 187.6% during the 2nd quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 83,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 54,732 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 492.0% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 111,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 92,745 shares during the period. 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.