Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR)’s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $24.44 and traded as high as $25.33. Saratoga Investment shares last traded at $25.30, with a volume of 81,461 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SAR shares. Compass Point lowered their price objective on shares of Saratoga Investment from $26.25 to $25.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Saratoga Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Saratoga Investment currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.08.

Saratoga Investment Stock Down 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $362.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.46.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Saratoga Investment Corp. will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.87%. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 120.97%.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 32,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Saratoga Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Saratoga Investment by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in Saratoga Investment by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 59,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in Saratoga Investment by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 29,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 2,929 shares during the period. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.