Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) Short Interest Down 15.0% in February

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SAR. Compass Point cut their price objective on Saratoga Investment from $26.25 to $25.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Saratoga Investment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAR. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in Saratoga Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in Saratoga Investment by 133.0% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 64,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 36,544 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Saratoga Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $860,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Saratoga Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $814,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in Saratoga Investment by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 94,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,272,000 after purchasing an additional 23,089 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.09% of the company’s stock.

Saratoga Investment Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SAR stock opened at $24.44 on Friday. Saratoga Investment has a fifty-two week low of $21.56 and a fifty-two week high of $26.49. The stock has a market cap of $350.67 million, a P/E ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.27%. This is a boost from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.