PennantPark Investment Co. Announces Monthly Dividend of $0.08 (NASDAQ:PNNT)

PennantPark Investment Co. (NASDAQ:PNNT) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

PennantPark Investment has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years. PennantPark Investment has a payout ratio of 111.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect PennantPark Investment to earn $0.87 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 110.3%.

PennantPark Investment Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ PNNT traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $6.76. The company had a trading volume of 70,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 457,686. The company’s fifty day moving average is $6.93 and its 200-day moving average is $7.15. PennantPark Investment has a one year low of $6.31 and a one year high of $8.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $441.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 1.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PennantPark Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered PennantPark Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Compass Point upgraded PennantPark Investment from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

About PennantPark Investment

PennantPark Investment Corporation, a business development company is a private equity fund specializes in direct and mezzanine investments in middle market companies. It invests in the form of mezzanine debt, senior secured loans, and equity investments. The fund typically invests in buildings and real estate, hotels, gaming and leisure, technology, telecommunications, transportation, information technology services, electronics, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, education and childcare, financial services, printing and publishing, consumer products, business services, energy & Related Services and utilities, distribution, oil and gas, media, environmental services, aerospace and defense, building materials, capital equipment, chemicals, plastics, & rubber, food & beverage, wholesale, manufacturing and basic industries and retail.