PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,663,625 shares, a growth of 36.3% from the December 31st total of 1,220,517 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,156,802 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,156,802 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Price Performance

PFLT stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.43. 987,496 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,001,495. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.35. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 52-week low of $8.40 and a 52-week high of $11.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $935.64 million, a P/E ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28. The firm had revenue of $68.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.91 million. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 25.39% and a return on equity of 9.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and set a $10.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Company Profile

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company. It seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments. The fund seeks to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies. It primarily invests in the United States and to a limited extent non-U.S. companies. The fund typically invests between $2 million and $20 million. The fund also invests in equity securities, such as preferred stock, common stock, warrants or options received in connection with debt investments or through direct investments.