Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $2.57, but opened at $2.66. Prospect Capital shares last traded at $2.69, with a volume of 889,648 shares traded.

Specifically, CEO John F. Barry purchased 384,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.66 per share, with a total value of $1,021,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 84,401,000 shares in the company, valued at $224,506,660. This trade represents a 0.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 374,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.66 per share, for a total transaction of $996,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 84,017,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,485,220. The trade was a 0.45% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Prospect Capital from $3.00 to $2.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Prospect Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Prospect Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and an average price target of $2.50.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 4.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.04 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.04. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.14% and a negative net margin of 69.68%.The business had revenue of $166.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.08 million.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 29th will be given a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 19.8%. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -40.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSEC. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 69,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 10,906 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 684,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 367,634 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 1,149.4% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 313,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 288,500 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Prospect Capital by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 137,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 34,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prostatis Group LLC acquired a new stake in Prospect Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $98,000. 9.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.