PennantPark Investment (NASDAQ:PNNT) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

PennantPark Investment (NASDAQ:PNNT) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

PNNT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Compass Point reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $6.50 target price on shares of PennantPark Investment in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James cut shares of PennantPark Investment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of PennantPark Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.88.

PennantPark Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PNNT traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $6.95. 542,473 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 456,461. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $7.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.13. PennantPark Investment has a one year low of $6.01 and a one year high of $8.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $453.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 1.52.

PennantPark Investment (NASDAQ:PNNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). PennantPark Investment had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 40.14%. The company had revenue of $35.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.22 million. Research analysts expect that PennantPark Investment will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PennantPark Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in PennantPark Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PennantPark Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PennantPark Investment by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,519 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares in the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PennantPark Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $90,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of PennantPark Investment during the second quarter worth approximately $105,000. 26.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.