Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at B. Riley

B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) in a report released on Tuesday morning. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $23.50 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on SAR. Compass Point decreased their price objective on shares of 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 downgraded shares of Saratoga Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Saratoga Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.58.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

Shares of SAR opened at $24.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.90 and a 200-day moving average of $24.44. Saratoga Investment has a one year low of $21.10 and a one year high of $26.49. The company has a market cap of $369.84 million, a PE ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.21). Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $31.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.86 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 12.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is 147.06%.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Saratoga Investment by 300.0% in the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the 3rd quarter worth about $116,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Saratoga Investment by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 6,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Saratoga Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Institutional investors own 19.09% of the company’s stock.

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.