UBS Group AG Boosts Stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. $PFLT

UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,367,442 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,372 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital were worth $12,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,643,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,257,000 after acquiring an additional 512,528 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 81.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 147,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 65,977 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 7.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,533,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,520,000 after purchasing an additional 174,630 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its position in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 693.2% during the fourth quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 123,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 108,263 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $835,000. 19.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Up 0.5%

PFLT opened at $8.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.91. The company has a market capitalization of $861.71 million, a PE ratio of 14.01 and a beta of 0.78. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. has a 1-year low of $7.68 and a 1-year high of $10.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $44.81 million for the quarter. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 23.08% and a return on equity of 9.95%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.1025 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 14.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s payout ratio is currently 198.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.15 per share, with a total value of $122,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jose A. Briones acquired 5,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.67 per share, for a total transaction of $50,025.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 348,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,017,879.61. This represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired 26,665 shares of company stock valued at $222,266 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFLT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp cut their target price on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Maxim Group set a $10.50 price target on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PennantPark Floating Rate Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.00.

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.