PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.80.

Several research firms have commented on PFLT. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research cut shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

In related news, Director Jose A. Briones acquired 5,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.67 per share, for a total transaction of $50,025.90. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 348,083 shares in the company, valued at $3,017,879.61. This trade represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PFLT. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 85.0% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,196,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,392,000 after purchasing an additional 550,011 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 692.7% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 319,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,578,000 after purchasing an additional 279,399 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 2.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 63,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the second quarter valued at about $219,000. 19.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Performance

Shares of PFLT opened at $7.27 on Tuesday. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 1 year low of $7.25 and a 1 year high of $10.88. The company has a market cap of $720.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.38 and a 200-day moving average of $8.70.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 23.08% and a return on equity of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $44.81 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.0833 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s payout ratio is currently 154.84%.

About PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company. It seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments. The fund seeks to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies. It primarily invests in the United States and to a limited extent non-U.S. companies. The fund typically invests between $2 million and $20 million. The fund also invests in equity securities, such as preferred stock, common stock, warrants or options received in connection with debt investments or through direct investments.