PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.4167.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Maxim Group set a $10.50 target price on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Trading Up 2.3%

PFLT stock opened at $8.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 12-month low of $7.68 and a 12-month high of $10.88. The stock has a market cap of $832.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50-day moving average is $8.52 and its 200 day moving average is $8.94.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.03). PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 13.03%.The firm had revenue of $12.72 million during the quarter.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.1025 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 361.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PennantPark Floating Rate Capital news, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. bought 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.15 per share, with a total value of $122,250.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,750. This trade represents a 150.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jose A. Briones purchased 5,895 shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,989.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 342,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,814.24. This trade represents a 1.75% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFLT. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,057,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,290,000 after buying an additional 617,657 shares during the period. Truffle Hound Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,562,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 85.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,196,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,392,000 after buying an additional 550,011 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,643,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,257,000 after buying an additional 512,528 shares during the period. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,320,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,238,000 after buying an additional 404,117 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.77% of the company’s stock.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Company Profile

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company. It seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments. The fund seeks to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies. It primarily invests in the United States and to a limited extent non-U.S. companies. The fund typically invests between $2 million and $20 million. The fund also invests in equity securities, such as preferred stock, common stock, warrants or options received in connection with debt investments or through direct investments.