BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 123,200 Shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC - Free Report) by 90.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 259,449 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 123,200 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.06% of Prospect Capital worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $7,880,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 4,160.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 946,648 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,080,000 after purchasing an additional 924,428 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 707,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 233,948 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 598,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 6,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prospect Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $2,216,000. 9.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PSEC. Wall Street Zen raised Prospect Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William Gremp bought 19,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $322,406.37. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 240,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.20 per share, with a total value of $1,008,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 81,981,933 shares in the company, valued at $344,324,118.60. This represents a 0.29% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 2,548,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,970,715 in the last three months. Insiders own 28.25% of the company's stock.

Prospect Capital Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:PSEC traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $3.34. 4,812,044 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,902,432. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.70 and a beta of 0.93. Prospect Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $3.30 and a twelve month 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's fifty day moving average price is $3.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.14.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $170.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.29 million. Prospect Capital had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 1.18%.

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. Prospect Capital's payout ratio is currently -62.79%.

Prospect Capital 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.