Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.06, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $119.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.53 million. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.14% and a negative net margin of 69.68%.

Prospect Capital Stock Performance

PSEC traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.74. 4,162,729 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,274,755. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.04 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Prospect Capital has a 12 month low of $2.52 and a 12 month high of $4.88.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be given a dividend of $0.045 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 19.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently -40.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PSEC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Prospect Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Prospect Capital from $3.00 to $2.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $2.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 925,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.72 per share, for a total transaction of $2,516,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,067,158 shares in the company, valued at $234,102,669.76. This represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO M Grier Eliasek purchased 370,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.71 per share, with a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,501,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,778,062.30. This trade represents a 17.36% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired 2,797,158 shares of company stock worth $7,485,119 over the last three months. 27.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSEC. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 92.2% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 11,788 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Prospect Capital during the second quarter worth approximately $87,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Prospect Capital during the second quarter worth approximately $116,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Prospect Capital by 132.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 52,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 29,769 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its stake in Prospect Capital by 187.6% during the 2nd quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 83,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 54,732 shares in the last quarter. 9.06% of the stock is currently 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.