Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Compass Point reduced their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.08.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

NYSE SAR opened at $25.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $363.46 million, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.45. 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.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last posted 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 net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. Sell-side analysts predict that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.84%. This is an increase from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 64,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 36,544 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $860,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $814,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC grew its stake in Saratoga Investment by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 94,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,272,000 after purchasing an additional 23,089 shares in the last quarter. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.