Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 142,454 Shares of Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC)

Key Points

• Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Prospect Capital Corporation by 70.2%, selling 142,454 shares and ending the quarter with 60,352 shares valued at $247,000.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Prospect Capital, with Wells Fargo lowering their price target from $3.50 to $3.00 and assigning an "underweight" rating, while Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from "sell" to "hold."
• CEO John F. Barry purchased 623,300 shares of Prospect Capital at an average cost of $3.19, increasing his total ownership to over 83 million shares, valued at approximately $265 million.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC - Free Report) by 70.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 142,454 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Prospect Capital were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 6,177.6% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,478,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,684,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,426 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Prospect Capital by 4,160.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 946,648 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,080,000 after acquiring an additional 924,428 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 3,430.6% in the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 624,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 606,733 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 115.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 1,149.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Prospect Capital news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 319,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.16 per share, for a total transaction of $1,008,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,585,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,128,682.16. The trade was a 0.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 28.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

Shares of PSEC stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $2.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,535,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,067,694. Prospect Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $2.73 and a 12 month high of $5.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.28 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's fifty day moving average is $3.23 and its 200 day moving average is $3.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a yield of 1,588.0%. Prospect Capital's dividend payout ratio is -62.79%.

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.