Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $4.51 and last traded at $4.54, with a volume of 4129399 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.36.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $212.26 million for the quarter. Prospect Capital had a net margin of 28.07% and a return on equity of 13.53%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.23 EPS.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 16.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is 205.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 23.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,938,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,290 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 303.6% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 5,062,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,064,000 after buying an additional 3,808,560 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 8.1% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,044,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,938,000 after buying an additional 153,180 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Prospect Capital by 344.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 933,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 722,925 shares during the period. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Prospect Capital in the second quarter valued at $2,107,000. 9.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.