Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PSEC stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $4.53. The company had a trading volume of 2,625,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,397,469. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of -17.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $4.97 and its 200 day moving average is $5.25. Prospect Capital has a fifty-two week low of $4.15 and a fifty-two week high of $6.30.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $196.31 million for the quarter. Prospect Capital had a positive return on equity of 12.19% and a negative net margin of 2.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO M Grier Eliasek acquired 210,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $4.81 per share, with a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,131,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,250,735.30. This trade represents a 10.93 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John F. Barry acquired 205,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.40 per share, with a total value of $905,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 72,612,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,496,491.60. The trade was a 0.28 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 3,273,173 shares of company stock worth $15,121,420. Corporate insiders own 27.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Prospect Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSEC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 23.3% during the 3rd 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. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in Prospect Capital by 303.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,808,560 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Prospect Capital by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,044,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,938,000 after buying an additional 153,180 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 344.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 933,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,992,000 after buying an additional 722,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prospect Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,107,000. 9.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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