Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $4.51 and last traded at $4.54, with a volume of 4129399 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSEC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Prospect Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

Prospect Capital Stock Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $5.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.36. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.07. Prospect Capital had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 28.07%. The firm had revenue of $212.26 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 16.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 29th. Prospect Capital's dividend payout ratio is presently 205.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prospect Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSEC. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in Prospect Capital by 303.6% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 5,062,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,064,000 after acquiring an additional 3,808,560 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Prospect Capital by 23.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,938,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,290 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Prospect Capital by 344.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 933,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 722,925 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC raised its position in Prospect Capital by 29.1% in the first quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,712,938 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,455,000 after acquiring an additional 386,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new position in Prospect Capital in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,107,000. 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.