PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) Short Interest Update

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. (NYSE:PFLT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,516,343 shares, a growth of 66.8% from the February 26th total of 2,108,707 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,025,306 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PFLT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Maxim Group set a $10.50 price objective on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on PennantPark Floating Rate Capital from $10.50 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.42.

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Stock Performance

Shares of PFLT stock traded down $0.28 on Friday, hitting $7.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,497,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,064. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $766.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72 and a beta of 0.77. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a 52-week low of $7.70 and a 52-week high of $11.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

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

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.1025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.9%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 361.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PennantPark Floating Rate Capital news, CFO Richard T. Allorto, Jr. bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.15 per share, with a total value of $122,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,750. This trade represents a 150.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jose A. Briones purchased 5,895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,989.60. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 342,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PennantPark Floating Rate Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 692.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 319,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,578,000 after buying an additional 279,399 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 2.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 63,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital by 4.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 578,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,974,000 after acquiring an additional 23,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in PennantPark Floating Rate Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at $124,000. 19.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.