Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

PSEC has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prospect Capital from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Prospect Capital from $2.50 to $2.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $2.00.

Prospect Capital Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Prospect Capital stock opened at $2.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Prospect Capital has a 1 year low of $2.11 and a 1 year high of $3.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $2.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40 and a beta of 0.79.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.04. Prospect Capital had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The business had revenue of $155.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.80 million.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 18.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is 840.00%.

Insider Transactions at Prospect Capital

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 1,067,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.27 per share, for a total transaction of $2,423,560.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 89,213,725 shares in the company, valued at $202,515,155.75. This represents a 1.21% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. GTS Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prospect Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 20,534,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,435,000 after purchasing an additional 6,999,513 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Prospect Capital by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,685,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,388,990 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Concorde Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $838,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

About Prospect Capital

Prospect Capital Corporation is a publicly traded business development company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange that specializes in providing private debt and equity financing solutions to middle-market companies across the United States. Structured as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, Prospect Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans, subordinated debt and selective equity interests in privately held businesses.

Since its founding in 2004, Prospect Capital has focused on tailoring financing structures to meet the growth, acquisition and recapitalization needs of its portfolio companies.