Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Prospect Capital Stock Performance

Shares of PSEC stock opened at $3.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.58. Prospect Capital has a one year low of $3.68 and a one year high of $5.72. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a yield of 12.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is currently -270.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.32 per share, for a total transaction of $8,640,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 81,501,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,088,350.56. The trade was a 2.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Gremp purchased 19,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.29 per share, with a total value of $81,939.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 75,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $322,406.37. The trade was a 34.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 2,548,000 shares of company stock worth $10,970,715 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 28.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSEC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 99.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 136,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 67,920 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 34.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 14,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,686 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the third quarter valued at about $88,000. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 175.2% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 162,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $871,000 after acquiring an additional 103,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS acquired a new stake in Prospect Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $451,000. Institutional investors own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

About Prospect Capital

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.