Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Upgraded at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH

LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.88.

Saratoga Investment Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Saratoga Investment stock opened at $21.60 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.46. Saratoga Investment has a 1 year low of $21.10 and a 1 year high of $26.49. The company has a market capitalization of $347.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.09). Saratoga Investment had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 27.19%.The firm had revenue of $30.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.39 million. Research analysts forecast that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.9%. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment in the third quarter worth $382,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 18.4% in the third quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 40,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,264 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 24.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment in the second quarter worth $355,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 43.1% in the second quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 186,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,619,000 after purchasing an additional 56,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.09% of the company’s stock.

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.