PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Maxim Group set a $10.50 target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PennantPark Floating Rate Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.00.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Performance

NYSE PFLT opened at $8.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $857.76 million, a P/E ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.78. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a fifty-two week low of $7.68 and a fifty-two week high of $10.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.18.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $44.81 million for the quarter. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 23.08% and a return on equity of 9.95%. On average, equities analysts forecast that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.1025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.2%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 198.39%.

Insider Transactions at PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

In other news, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.15 per share, for a total transaction of $122,250.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jose A. Briones acquired 5,770 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.67 per share, for a total transaction of $50,025.90. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 348,083 shares in the company, valued at $3,017,879.61. The trade was a 1.69% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought a total of 26,665 shares of company stock worth $222,266 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. 19.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.