Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its position in shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,127,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 811,246 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.86% of Prospect Capital worth $35,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. XML Financial LLC lifted its position in Prospect Capital by 8.1% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,044,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,938,000 after acquiring an additional 153,180 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 722,925 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Prospect Capital by 2.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 299,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 7,641 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Prospect Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $1,086,000. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Prospect Capital in the third quarter valued at $1,199,000. 9.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prospect Capital

In other Prospect Capital 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, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 2,131,130 shares in the company, valued at $10,250,735.30. This trade represents a 10.93 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John F. Barry acquired 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.78 per share, for a total transaction of $4,780,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 77,465,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,284,124.44. This trade represents a 1.31 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 5,067,273 shares of company stock worth $22,795,460. 27.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Prospect Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ PSEC opened at $4.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of -16.81 and a beta of 0.99. Prospect Capital Co. has a one year low of $4.09 and a one year high of $5.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.80.

Prospect Capital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently -207.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th.

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.