Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average of $25.02

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR – Get Rating)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $25.02 and traded as high as $27.45. Saratoga Investment shares last traded at $27.22, with a volume of 47,889 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Saratoga Investment from $27.50 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Saratoga Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $323.67 million, a P/E ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.02.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $26.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.87 million. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 16.18% and a return on equity of 8.40%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Saratoga Investment Corp. will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 16th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 15th. This is an increase from Saratoga Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.14%. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is currently 235.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Saratoga Investment

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 554.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 4,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $126,000. 19.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Saratoga Investment Company Profile

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Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE: SAR) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that provides customized financing solutions for middle market companies located in the United States. Saratoga’s senior investment professionals have over 200 years of combined experience investing in more than $4 billion in middle market businesses.