Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Cut 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 note released on Friday.

Prospect Capital Stock Down 8.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PSEC opened at $3.70 on Friday. Prospect Capital has a 52-week low of $3.68 and a 52-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 market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.50 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.58.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In related news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 2,000,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.32 per share, for a total transaction of $8,640,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,501,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $352,088,350.56. This represents a 2.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William Gremp acquired 19,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $4.29 per share, with a total value of $81,939.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $322,406.37. This represents a 34.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,548,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,970,715. Company insiders own 28.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Prospect Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Envision Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. PFG Advisors acquired a new position in Prospect Capital during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in Prospect Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. 9.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.