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

PennantPark Investment Co. (NASDAQ:PNNT) announced a monthly dividend on Monday, January 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the asset manager on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th.

PennantPark Investment has raised its dividend by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years. PennantPark Investment has a dividend payout ratio of 111.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities 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 Up 1.3 %

PennantPark Investment stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Monday, hitting $7.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 503,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 465,057. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $6.92 and its 200 day moving average is $7.06. PennantPark Investment has a 1-year low of $6.43 and a 1-year high of $8.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.53 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Compass Point raised shares of PennantPark Investment from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of PennantPark Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.