Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

PSEC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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 restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Prospect Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $2.50.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSEC opened at $2.67 on Friday. Prospect Capital has a 1 year low of $2.52 and a 1 year high of $4.57. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.71 and its 200 day moving average is $2.95.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $119.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.53 million. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.29% and a negative net margin of 42.50%.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be given a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.2%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently -62.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Prospect Capital news, COO M Grier Eliasek purchased 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.71 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,501,130 shares in the company, valued at $6,778,062.30. The trade was a 17.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 925,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.72 per share, with a total value of $2,516,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,067,158 shares in the company, valued at $234,102,669.76. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,797,158 shares of company stock valued at $7,485,119. 27.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tweedy Browne Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 139,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 72,590 shares during the last quarter. Mayport LLC bought a new stake in Prospect Capital in the third quarter worth $57,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 23.2% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 393,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 74,053 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 70.5% in the third quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 1,176,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,236,000 after acquiring an additional 486,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 11.4% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 202,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 20,700 shares in the last quarter. 9.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Prospect Capital Company Profile

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.