Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 154,594 Shares of PennantPark Investment Co. (NASDAQ:PNNT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PennantPark Investment Co. (NASDAQ:PNNT) by 36.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 578,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 154,594 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PennantPark Investment were worth $3,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PNNT. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in PennantPark Investment during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in PennantPark Investment during the 4th quarter worth $67,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in PennantPark Investment by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,519 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PennantPark Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $90,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of PennantPark Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PNNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of PennantPark Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James downgraded shares of PennantPark Investment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, PennantPark Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.94.

PennantPark Investment Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of PNNT stock opened at $7.55 on Friday. PennantPark Investment Co. has a one year low of $5.80 and a one year high of $7.77. The stock has a market cap of $492.41 million, a P/E ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.03.

PennantPark Investment (NASDAQ:PNNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $35.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.22 million. PennantPark Investment had a net margin of 40.14% and a return on equity of 13.65%. Analysts predict that PennantPark Investment Co. will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

PennantPark Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a boost from PennantPark Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.72%. PennantPark Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.35%.

PennantPark Investment Company Profile

PennantPark Investment Corporation, a business development company is a private equity fund specializes in direct and mezzanine investments in middle market companies. It invests in the form of mezzanine debt, senior secured loans, and equity investments. The fund typically invests in buildings and real estate, hotels, gaming and leisure, technology, telecommunications, transportation, information technology services, electronics, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, education and childcare, financial services, printing and publishing, consumer products, business services, energy & Related Services and utilities, distribution, oil and gas, media, environmental services, aerospace and defense, building materials, capital equipment, chemicals, plastics, & rubber, food & beverage, wholesale, manufacturing and basic industries and retail.