Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Stock Price Up 3.2% Following Dividend Announcement

Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) shares rose 3.2% during trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $5.22 and last traded at $5.16. Approximately 2,944,302 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 41% from the average daily volume of 2,082,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 211.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 4.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.44.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.07. Prospect Capital had a net margin of 25.13% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The firm had revenue of $212.26 million for the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In related news, CFO Dask Kristin Lea Van bought 3,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.50 per share, for a total transaction of $74,925.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 4,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,127.50. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 26.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 5.4% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,248,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,085,000 after acquiring an additional 368,412 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 303.6% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 5,062,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,064,000 after purchasing an additional 3,808,560 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Prospect Capital by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,035,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after buying an additional 298,400 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in Prospect Capital by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,891,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,459,000 after buying an additional 178,330 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 394,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,177,000 after buying an additional 147,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

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.