- Pays: monthly — currently $0.035 per share.
- Paying since: 2004, monthly for well over a decade — but the amount has stepped down twice recently.
- The cuts: $0.06 → $0.045 (announced Nov 2024, ending an 86-payment streak at $0.06), then $0.045 → $0.035 (announced May 7, 2026). That's a 42% reduction in about eighteen months.
- What it is: an externally managed BDC lending to private middle-market companies, shifting toward first-lien senior secured loans while exiting structured notes and real estate.
- The number behind the cuts: net asset value per share fell from $7.25 (Mar 2025) to $6.05 (Mar 2026) to $5.71 (Jun 2026). Dividends follow the book.
- Coverage (quarter ended June 30, 2026): NII $0.15 per share vs $0.115 in distributions — about 130% covered after the cut (the old $0.045 rate would have been ~111%). Non-accruals 0.7% of the portfolio at fair value (~4.7% at cost); PIK income ~11.7% of investment income; net debt-to-equity 0.41x; NAV $5.71 (from $6.05 three months earlier).
PSEC also has about $1.6B of perpetual preferred stock that ranks ahead of the common — its dividends get paid first. Externally managed, with an active at-the-market share program. The headline yield looks generous precisely because the market is pricing in what this chart shows.
PSEC pays monthly. Each point below is one dividend since 2004 — the flat $0.06 plateau and the two recent steps down are the page's honest headline.
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Each point is one payment; the line ends at the most recent payout. The table below totals them by year.
- Trailing 12 months: $0.5 per share across 12 payments — down 12% from $0.57 in the 12 months before. What a change like that does to your income →
- Current pace: recent payments annualize to $0.48 — 4% below the trailing figure. When those two disagree, the trailing yield is quoting the past. Live cut & raise board →
- Share price, same 12 months: down 23% (dividends excluded) — income and principal are one story. Erosion Index →
- Record: 217 payments over 22 years; the largest single payment was $0.41 (Mar 2010).
- Payment drops ≥20% below trend, last 24 months: 8. Get alerted to the next one →
- Payment steadiness: the last 12 checks wobble ±7% around their median. Compare that against any fund →
Every figure above is computed from PSEC's actual payment record and share-price history as of the date shown — not copied from a fact sheet. Recomputed regularly; the chart above always shows the live data.
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| Recent Ex-Dividend Dates | Dividend / Share |
|---|
"Next expected" is estimated from PSEC's recent payment rhythm — the fund announces exact dates shortly before each payout, and the data feed can lag a few days. You must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout; the cash typically arrives days later. See every fund's upcoming date on the live dividend calendar.
A real total-return estimate, assuming every payout was reinvested — including what happened to the share price. Before taxes and fees. Past performance does not predict the future.
For years PSEC was the BDC that never changed: $0.06 a month, 86 times in a row, a fixture on every monthly-income list. The chart above shows what the fixture was resting on — a net asset value that kept eroding until the dividend had to follow it down, twice. A cut to a BDC's dividend is rarely a surprise to anyone watching the NAV line; it's only a surprise to people watching the yield.
The contrast cases live on this site: MAIN has never cut, HTGC and CSWC are paying supplementals on top of steady bases. Run the compare tool against any of them, and size the cut's effect on your own income with the impact calculator.
| Year | Total Dividends / Share | Payments | Change vs Prior Year |
|---|
Data source: Yahoo Finance. Figures are per share; the current year may be partial and figures should be verified against official sources.
Calculated from complete calendar years in the data above. Past results don't guarantee future payments.
When Is PSEC's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
PSEC pays monthly. The exact date of each payout is announced by the fund only shortly beforehand, so no site can promise the next date — but the live schedule box above shows the most recent ex-dividend date and the expected window for the next one, computed from PSEC's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
Twenty-Two Years of Monthly Checks — and Two Steps Down
Prospect Capital has been paying since 2004 and monthly for most of that span. The defining stretch was the $0.06 era — 86 consecutive identical payments through October 2024 — which ended with the November 2024 cut to $0.045. The May 2026 cut to $0.035 confirmed the direction. The chart above shows every payment; the year-by-year table shows what a share actually collected.
Why BDC Dividends Follow the Book
A BDC earns interest on loans it makes with a mix of borrowed money and shareholder equity, and regulation requires it to distribute most of that income. When loans go bad or get repaid faster than they're replaced, net asset value per share drops — and a smaller book supports a smaller dividend. PSEC's NAV fell roughly 21% in fifteen months; the dividend fell 42% over the same stretch. That's not a coincidence, it's the mechanism.
Where PSEC Fits
As the cautionary exhibit among BDCs: a long monthly record with a shrinking foundation. For the durable version of the same business, see MAIN (never cut since 2007) or internally managed HTGC. Next expected date on the live calendar.
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