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

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) was the target of a large 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. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 112,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment in the third quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in Saratoga Investment by 133.0% during 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 period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Saratoga Investment during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $860,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Saratoga Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $814,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,272,000 after buying an additional 23,089 shares during the period. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

SAR stock opened at $24.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $348.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.37. Saratoga Investment has a 1 year low of $21.56 and a 1 year high of $26.49.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.08. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. Research analysts anticipate that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is 120.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SAR. StockNews.com raised Saratoga Investment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 26th. Compass Point cut their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.08.

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.