PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

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

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE:PFLT opened at $8.65 on Tuesday. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 52 week low of $7.68 and a 52 week high of $10.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $8.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $857.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $44.81 million for the quarter. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a return on equity of 9.95% and a net margin of 23.08%. Research analysts anticipate that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

In other PennantPark Floating Rate Capital news, Director Jose A. Briones acquired 5,895 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.48 per share, with a total value of $49,989.60. Following the acquisition, the director owned 342,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,814.24. This trade represents a 1.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. purchased 15,000 shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.15 per share, for a total transaction of $122,250.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 26,665 shares of company stock worth $222,266 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFLT. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 6.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,940,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,576,000 after acquiring an additional 296,851 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,533,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,520,000 after purchasing an additional 174,630 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 42.9% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,057,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,290,000 after buying an additional 617,657 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,367,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,676,000 after acquiring an additional 71,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,320,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,238,000 after buying an additional 404,117 shares during the period. 19.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

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.