Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

Prospect Capital stock opened at $3.56 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of -17.80 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Prospect Capital has a one year low of $3.39 and a one year high of $5.72.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a yield of 12.47%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is -270.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In other news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 2,000,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.32 per share, for a total transaction of $8,640,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 81,501,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,088,350.56. The trade was a 2.52 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William Gremp acquired 19,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.29 per share, for a total transaction of $81,939.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 75,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $322,406.37. The trade was a 34.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 2,548,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,970,715 in the last ninety days. 28.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Prospect Capital by 6,177.6% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,478,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,684,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439,426 shares in the last quarter. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,880,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Prospect Capital by 4,160.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 946,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,080,000 after purchasing an additional 924,428 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC bought a new position in Prospect Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,216,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in Prospect Capital by 115.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 684,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after buying an additional 367,634 shares in the last quarter. 9.06% of the stock is currently owned by 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.