Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Hits New 12-Month Low - Should You Sell?

Shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $3.30 and last traded at $3.32, with a volume of 585898 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSEC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Prospect Capital from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prospect Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

Prospect Capital Stock Up 0.3%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.25 and a beta of 0.93.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) 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.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th will be issued a $0.045 dividend. This represents a yield of 16.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. Prospect Capital's payout ratio is currently -62.79%.

Insider Activity at Prospect Capital

In other news, CEO John F. Barry bought 240,000 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.20 per share, for a total transaction of $1,008,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 81,981,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $344,324,118.60. The trade was a 0.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Gremp bought 19,100 shares of Prospect Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.29 per share, for a total transaction of $81,939.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 75,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at $322,406.37. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,548,000 shares of company stock worth $10,970,715. 28.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 6,177.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Prospect Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $7,880,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $4,080,000 after purchasing an additional 924,428 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 3,430.6% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 624,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 606,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 176.1% during the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 915,452 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,753,000 after purchasing an additional 583,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.06% of the company's stock.

About Prospect Capital

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.