PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 66.8% to 3,516,343 shares as of March 13, representing 3.6% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 3.4 days, signaling increased bearish positioning or hedging activity.
• Monthly dividend announced of $0.1025 per share (ex-dividend March 16) implying a 15.9% annualized yield, though the dividend payout ratio is an unsustainably high 361.76%.
• Insiders and institutions bought shares: CFO Richard Allorto Jr. purchased 15,000 shares at $8.15 and Director Jose Briones bought 5,895 shares, while firms like Millennium Management and Jane Street materially increased stakes.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,516,343 shares, an increase of 66.8% from the February 26th total of 2,108,707 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,025,306 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company's stock are short sold.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Trading Down 3.4%

NYSE:PFLT traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $7.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,497,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,173,920. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 52-week low of $7.70 and a 52-week high of $11.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $766.46 million, a PE ratio of 22.72 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.68.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.03). PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The business had revenue of $12.72 million during the quarter.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.1025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.9%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 361.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on PFLT. Maxim Group set a $10.50 price target on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $10.42.

Insider Activity at PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

In other PennantPark Floating Rate Capital news, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. bought 15,000 shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.15 per share, for a total transaction of $122,250.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jose A. Briones purchased 5,895 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.48 per share, with a total value of $49,989.60. Following the purchase, the director owned 342,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,902,814.24. This represents a 1.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,196,752 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,392,000 after buying an additional 550,011 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 692.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 319,736 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,578,000 after acquiring an additional 279,399 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 2.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 63,704 shares of the company's stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 4.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 578,019 shares of the company's stock worth $5,974,000 after purchasing an additional 23,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the second quarter worth about $124,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.77% of the company's stock.

About PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company. It seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments. The fund seeks to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies. It primarily invests in the United States and to a limited extent non-U.S. companies. The fund typically invests between $2 million and $20 million. The fund also invests in equity securities, such as preferred stock, common stock, warrants or options received in connection with debt investments or through direct investments.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.