Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) Declares $0.05 Dividend

Key Points

• Prospect Capital Corporation has announced a dividend of $0.05 per share, with a yield of 15.88%, payable on August 20th for investors of record as of July 30th, with the ex-dividend date set for July 29th.
• The company's current payout ratio is at 114.9%, indicating that it is relying on its balance sheet to cover dividend payments rather than earnings.
• CEO John F. Barry recently purchased 623,300 shares at an average price of $3.19, increasing his ownership stake in the company.

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) announced a dividend on Tuesday, May 6th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.045 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, September 18th. This represents a yield of 15.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 27th.

Prospect Capital has a 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 Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of Prospect Capital stock traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $3.20. 3,007,570 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,886,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Prospect Capital has a 1-year low of $3.10 and a 1-year high of $5.57. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.72 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $3.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.78.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $170.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.29 million. Prospect Capital had a negative net margin of 36.07% and a positive return on equity of 12.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSEC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Prospect Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 623,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $3.19 per share, with a total value of $1,988,327.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,266,026 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,618,622.94. This trade represents a 0.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 28.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Prospect Capital stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC - Free Report) by 140.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 88,397 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 51,562 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Prospect Capital were worth $362,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 9.06% of the stock is currently 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.