Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 3,283,472 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 33% from the previous session’s volume of 2,477,621 shares.The stock last traded at $4.29 and had previously closed at $4.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 4.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.77 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.04. Prospect Capital had a negative net margin of 2.23% and a positive return on equity of 12.19%. The company had revenue of $196.31 million during the quarter.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.39%. Prospect Capital’s payout ratio is -207.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO M Grier Eliasek purchased 210,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.81 per share, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,131,130 shares in the company, valued at $10,250,735.30. This trade represents a 10.93 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John F. Barry purchased 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.59 per share, for a total transaction of $4,590,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,465,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,385,658.15. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 3,273,173 shares of company stock worth $15,121,420 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 27.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Prospect Capital by 4.7% in the second quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 63,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Prospect Capital during the second quarter valued at $27,000. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,248,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,085,000 after purchasing an additional 368,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 207.4% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 58,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 39,455 shares during the period. 9.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.