Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) Short Interest Update

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 109,600 shares, a drop of 15.0% from the February 13th total of 129,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 112,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SAR. Compass Point reduced their price target on shares of Saratoga Investment from $26.25 to $25.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Saratoga Investment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.08.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the third quarter worth $116,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the third quarter worth $236,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the fourth quarter worth $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.09% of the company’s stock.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

NYSE:SAR opened at $24.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $347.03 million, a PE ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 1.31. Saratoga Investment has a fifty-two week low of $21.56 and a fifty-two week high of $26.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.37.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. Saratoga Investment had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 22.01%. Equities research analysts predict that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 120.97%.

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.