Prospect Capital Co. Declares Dividend of $0.05 (NASDAQ:PSEC)

Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) announced a dividend on Tuesday, May 6th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.045 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, July 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 15.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th.

Prospect Capital has decreased its dividend by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Prospect Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 114.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ PSEC traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.29. 4,566,298 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,929,603. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of -16.45 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Prospect Capital has a 52-week low of $3.22 and a 52-week high of $5.67. The firm's 50-day moving average is $3.65 and its 200-day moving average is $4.12.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PSEC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prospect Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Insider Transactions at Prospect Capital

In related news, Director William Gremp bought 19,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.29 per share, with a total value of $81,939.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at $322,406.37. This represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 240,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 81,981,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $344,324,118.60. The trade was a 0.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 2,548,000 shares of company stock worth $10,970,715 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 28.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Prospect Capital stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC - Free Report) by 29.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 393,034 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 89,139 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Prospect Capital worth $1,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 9.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.