Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 29th

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 29th will be given a dividend of $0.0350 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, January 20th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 30.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 29th.

Prospect Capital has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.1% annually over the last three years. Prospect Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 89.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities research analysts expect Prospect Capital to earn $0.35 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 120.0%.

Prospect Capital Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PSEC opened at $1.39 on Friday. Prospect Capital has a 12-month low of $1.38 and a 12-month high of $3.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $739.34 million, a PE ratio of -9.23 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $151.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $163.14 million. Prospect Capital had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 3.80%. As a group, analysts expect that Prospect Capital will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PSEC. Weiss Ratings lowered Prospect Capital from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Prospect Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Prospect Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $2.00.

Prospect Capital Company Profile

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) is a business development company that provides financing and investment capital to middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in privately held businesses through first-lien and second-lien loans, mezzanine debt, and other debt securities, while also making equity and equity-related investments in selected companies.

Prospect Capital invests across a range of industries and has additional exposure to areas such as real estate, structured credit, and financial services.