Saratoga Investment Corp. Announces Monthly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:SAR)

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) declared a monthly dividend on Monday, June 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, September 24th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th.

Saratoga Investment Trading Down 0.2%

SAR stock opened at $24.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $370.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.68. Saratoga Investment has a twelve month low of $21.10 and a twelve month high of $26.49.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.21). Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $31.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.86 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Saratoga Investment

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Saratoga Investment stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.15% of Saratoga Investment worth $595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SAR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.50 price target on the stock. Compass Point lowered Saratoga Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $25.25 to $24.25 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Saratoga Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.25.

Saratoga Investment Company Profile

Saratoga Investment Corp. is a business development company specializing in leveraged and management buyouts, acquisition financings, growth financings, recapitalization, debt refinancing, and transitional financing transactions at the lower end of middle market companies. It structures its investments as debt and equity by investing through first and second lien loans, mezzanine debt, co-investments, select high yield bonds, senior secured bonds, unsecured bonds, and preferred and common equity.