HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 9,721 Shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) by 43.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,721 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Prospect Capital were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Prospect Capital by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 14,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 3,686 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 15,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 3,467 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Prospect Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $88,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Prospect Capital in the fourth quarter worth $79,000. 9.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Prospect Capital Stock Performance

Shares of PSEC stock opened at $3.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.50 and a beta of 0.85. Prospect Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $3.68 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.59.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a yield of 12.47%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently -270.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William Gremp bought 19,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.29 per share, with a total value of $81,939.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $322,406.37. This trade represents a 34.07 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 240,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.20 per share, for a total transaction of $1,008,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,981,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $344,324,118.60. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 2,548,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,970,715 in the last quarter. Insiders own 28.25% of the company’s stock.

Prospect Capital 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.