Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Prospect Capital from $5.50 to $5.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 16th.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PSEC opened at $5.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.67. Prospect Capital has a 52-week low of $5.03 and a 52-week high of $6.69.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $202.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.70 million. Prospect Capital had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 25.13%.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 28th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 211.76%.

Insider Activity at Prospect Capital

In other news, CFO Dask Kristin Lea Van acquired 3,330 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.50 per share, with a total value of $74,925.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,127.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 26.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSEC. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 2,266.9% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 7,254 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,722 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 62.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746 shares during the period. Edge Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Prospect Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Prospect Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

Prospect Capital Company Profile

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.