Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 177,600 shares, an increase of 28.0% from the May 31st total of 138,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 66,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Saratoga Investment

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 140,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,599,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 126,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,926,000 after acquiring an additional 15,782 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 80.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 100,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,595,000 after acquiring an additional 44,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 2,604.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 86,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 82,860 shares in the last quarter. 19.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

NYSE SAR opened at $22.52 on Tuesday. Saratoga Investment has a fifty-two week low of $22.35 and a fifty-two week high of $27.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $308.52 million, a P/E ratio of 31.72 and a beta of 1.31.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $37.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.59 million. Saratoga Investment had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 6.22%. On average, analysts anticipate that Saratoga Investment will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.14%. This is an increase from Saratoga Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 13th. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is presently 416.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SAR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered Saratoga Investment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Saratoga Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Saratoga Investment has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.69.

About Saratoga Investment

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.