Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Prospect Capital in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Prospect Capital from $2.50 to $2.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Prospect Capital has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $2.00.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

Shares of PSEC opened at $2.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.89 and a beta of 0.82. Prospect Capital has a 1-year low of $2.14 and a 1-year high of $3.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $150.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.23 million. Prospect Capital had a negative net margin of 10.42% and a positive return on equity of 12.03%.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 19.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 27th. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is -145.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Prospect Capital by 23.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 316,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 61,182 shares during the period. Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the first quarter valued at about $50,000. Modera Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the first quarter valued at about $69,000. Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital in the first quarter valued at about $8,644,000. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 15.7% in the first quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 400,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 54,424 shares during the period. 9.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Prospect Capital Company Profile

Prospect Capital Corporation is a publicly traded business development company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange that specializes in providing private debt and equity financing solutions to middle-market companies across the United States. Structured as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, Prospect Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans, subordinated debt and selective equity interests in privately held businesses.

Since its founding in 2004, Prospect Capital has focused on tailoring financing structures to meet the growth, acquisition and recapitalization needs of its portfolio companies.