Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $4.12 and last traded at $4.19, with a volume of 714226 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSEC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.12 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.31 million during 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 business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.89%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -207.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 837,273 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.47 per share, with a total value of $3,742,610.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,450,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,322,000.64. This trade represents a 1.15 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO M Grier Eliasek acquired 210,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.81 per share, with a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 2,131,130 shares in the company, valued at $10,250,735.30. This trade represents a 10.93 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 3,273,173 shares of company stock valued at $15,121,420. Company insiders own 27.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Prospect Capital by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,938,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,376,000 after buying an additional 1,690,290 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in Prospect Capital by 303.6% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 5,062,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,064,000 after acquiring an additional 3,808,560 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in Prospect Capital by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,044,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,938,000 after purchasing an additional 153,180 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 344.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 933,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,992,000 after purchasing an additional 722,925 shares during the period. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prospect Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

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.