Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) Declares $0.05 Monthly Dividend

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.045 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, January 21st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 29th.

Prospect Capital has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years. Prospect Capital has a payout ratio of 114.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments.

Prospect Capital Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of Prospect Capital stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $2.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,708,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,262,838. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.74 and a 200-day moving average of $3.09. Prospect Capital has a 1 year low of $2.52 and a 1 year high of $4.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.97 and a beta of 0.86.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.06. Prospect Capital had a negative net margin of 69.68% and a positive return on equity of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $119.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.53 million.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Prospect Capital news, COO M Grier Eliasek acquired 370,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.71 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 2,501,130 shares in the company, valued at $6,778,062.30. This represents a 17.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John F. Barry bought 925,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.72 per share, for a total transaction of $2,516,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,067,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $234,102,669.76. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have bought 2,797,158 shares of company stock valued at $7,485,119. Insiders own 27.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 132.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 52,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 29,769 shares during the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Prospect Capital in the third quarter worth about $53,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Prospect Capital by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 81,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 7,994 shares during the last quarter. A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 59.1% during the third quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 6,664 shares during the period. 9.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.