Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08, Zacks reports. Saratoga Investment had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 13.64%.

Saratoga Investment Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:SAR traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.47. The stock had a trading volume of 81,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,861. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Saratoga Investment has a twelve month low of $21.56 and a twelve month high of $26.49. The company has a market capitalization of $337.71 million, a PE ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.66.

Saratoga Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a $1.09 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 11.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is presently 193.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SAR. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Saratoga Investment from $24.75 to $26.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Saratoga Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Saratoga Investment from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.42.

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.