Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) Short Interest Up 24.7% in May

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 29,460,000 shares, a growth of 24.7% from the May 15th total of 23,620,000 shares. Currently, 8.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.8 days.

Prospect Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ PSEC traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.19. 4,361,337 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,035,203. The business's fifty day moving average price is $3.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.71 and a beta of 0.85. Prospect Capital has a 52 week low of $3.14 and a 52 week high of $5.65.

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

Prospect Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th were given a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 16.46%. Prospect Capital's payout ratio is currently -62.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John F. Barry acquired 24,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.24 per share, with a total value of $101,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,594,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $350,200,849.60. This trade represents a 0.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 28.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 6,177.6% in 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 during the period. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 26.6% in the first quarter. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. now owns 2,315,582 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,494,000 after purchasing an additional 487,171 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 24.8% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,181,787 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,845,000 after purchasing an additional 235,139 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 176.1% in 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 during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position 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 worth $3,051,000 after acquiring an additional 233,948 shares during the last quarter. 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.