Saratoga Investment Corp Plans Monthly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:SAR)

Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Monday, July 6th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 13.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th.

Saratoga Investment has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years. Saratoga Investment has a dividend payout ratio of 90.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect Saratoga Investment to earn $2.12 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 141.5%.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

NYSE:SAR opened at $22.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $362.98 million, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.54. Saratoga Investment has a one year low of $20.78 and a one year high of $25.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.04.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. The firm had revenue of $6.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.85 million. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 29.12% and a return on equity of 9.29%. Analysts anticipate that Saratoga Investment will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SAR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Saratoga Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Saratoga Investment Company Profile

Saratoga Investment Corp. is a closed-end, externally managed investment company that seeks to generate current income and total return through a diversified portfolio of private U.S. companies. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SAR, the firm primarily targets middle-market businesses across a broad range of industries, including industrials, healthcare, consumer products, financial services and technology. Its investment approach combines debt and equity instruments, providing flexible capital solutions such as first-lien and second-lien secured loans, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and common equity positions.

As an actively managed vehicle, Saratoga Investment works closely with portfolio companies’ management teams to support growth initiatives, operational improvements, and strategic transactions.