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

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.045 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th.

Prospect Capital has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSEC traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $2.66. The stock had a trading volume of 2,474,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,265,882. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Prospect Capital has a twelve month low of $2.52 and a twelve month high of $4.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,181,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,845,000 after acquiring an additional 235,139 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in Prospect Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Prospect Capital by 48.0% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 589,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 191,354 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Prospect Capital by 16.4% in the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 128,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 18,099 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Prospect Capital by 22.2% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 308,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 56,064 shares during the period. 9.06% of the stock is owned by 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.