Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $2.52 and last traded at $2.5350, with a volume of 2967420 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $2.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PSEC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Prospect Capital from $3.00 to $2.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Prospect Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $2.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.92. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.95 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.06. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.29% and a negative net margin of 42.50%.The firm had revenue of $119.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.53 million.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.045 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is presently -62.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In other news, CEO John F. Barry bought 925,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.72 per share, with a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO M Grier Eliasek bought 370,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 2,797,158 shares of company stock valued at $7,485,119 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 27.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSEC. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 11,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in Prospect Capital by 0.5% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 844,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,685,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Prospect Capital by 17.1% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 27,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 4,015 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Prospect Capital by 1.3% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 351,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 4,613 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 1.9% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 262,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 4,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

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.