PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,866,711 shares, a decline of 18.5% from the March 15th total of 3,516,343 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,034,626 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on PFLT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Maxim Group set a $10.50 price objective on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.42.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of PFLT stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.91. 1,066,352 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,041,329. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a one year low of $7.68 and a one year high of $10.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $883.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19 and a beta of 0.75.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $12.72 million for the quarter. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 13.03%.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.1025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.8%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 361.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jose A. Briones purchased 5,895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.48 per share, with a total value of $49,989.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 342,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,814.24. The trade was a 1.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. purchased 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.15 per share, for a total transaction of $122,250.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 19.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.