Virtu Financial LLC Boosts Stake in Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC)

Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Prospect Capital Co. (NASDAQ:PSEC) by 175.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 162,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 103,679 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Prospect Capital were worth $871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSEC. XML Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 8.1% in the 3rd 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $47,376,000 after buying an additional 1,690,290 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Prospect Capital by 387.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 175,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 139,842 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Prospect Capital by 344.0% during 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 buying an additional 722,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Prospect Capital by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 9,721 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John F. Barry purchased 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.59 per share, with a total value of $4,590,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,465,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $346,385,658.15. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO M Grier Eliasek acquired 210,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.81 per share, with a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,131,130 shares in the company, valued at $10,250,735.30. This represents a 10.93 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 3,273,173 shares of company stock valued at $15,121,420. Corporate insiders own 27.10% of the company’s stock.

Prospect Capital Price Performance

Shares of PSEC opened at $4.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.20. Prospect Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $4.15 and a twelve month high of $6.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of -17.31 and a beta of 0.97.

Prospect Capital (NASDAQ:PSEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.04. The firm 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%.

Prospect Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a $0.045 dividend. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.00%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Prospect Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -207.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on PSEC shares. StockNews.com raised Prospect Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Prospect Capital from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th.

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.