Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PSEC. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Prospect Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat, Prospect Capital has an average rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $2.50.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 2.4%

The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of -2.97 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be given a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.2%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is -62.79%.

Insider Transactions at Prospect Capital

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 925,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.72 per share, for a total transaction of $2,516,000.00. Following the purchase, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO M Grier Eliasek purchased 370,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.71 per share, with a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,501,130 shares in the company, valued at $6,778,062.30. This trade represents a 17.36% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought a total of 2,794,658 shares of company stock worth $7,478,144 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 27.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $75,680,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 356.3% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,231,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,138,000 after buying an additional 4,866,312 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Prospect Capital in the second quarter worth about $12,424,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 73.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,661,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,002,000 after buying an additional 2,405,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in Prospect Capital by 99.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,096,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047,189 shares during the last quarter. 9.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.