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

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.25.

PFLT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Maxim Group set a $10.50 target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th.

Insider Transactions at PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

In other news, Director Jose A. Briones bought 5,895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,989.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 342,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,902,814.24. This represents a 1.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. acquired 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.15 per share, with a total value of $122,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,750. This represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

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

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Performance

PFLT opened at $9.08 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $900.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.35 and a 200 day moving average of $8.90. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a fifty-two week low of $7.68 and a fifty-two week high of $10.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (NYSE:PFLT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $12.72 million for the quarter. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital had a net margin of 13.03% and a return on equity of 9.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.1025 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s payout ratio is currently 361.76%.

About PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

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.