Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 18,266 Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 18,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $79,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MWA Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Prospect Capital during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Prospect Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Family Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Prospect Capital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Prospect Capital by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 14,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prospect Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 9.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Prospect Capital stock opened at $4.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.42 and its 200-day moving average is $4.93. The company has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.85 and a beta of 0.99. Prospect Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $4.09 and a 1 year high of $6.24.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.31 million for the quarter. Prospect Capital had a negative net margin of 2.23% and a positive return on equity of 12.19%.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.045 per share. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -207.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO M Grier Eliasek bought 210,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $4.81 per share, with a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,131,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,250,735.30. This trade represents a 10.93 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John F. Barry bought 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.29 per share, with a total value of $8,580,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 79,477,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $340,958,685.21. This trade represents a 2.58 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 5,273,173 shares of company stock worth $23,701,420. 27.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.