B. Riley Cuts Earnings Estimates for Saratoga Investment

Key Points

• B. Riley has reduced its FY2026 earnings estimate for Saratoga Investment from $2.57 to $2.24 per share, maintaining a "Neutral" rating with a price target of $23.00.
• The company recently reported a quarterly earnings miss, with $0.58 EPS against analysts' expectations of $0.67, and disclosed a $0.25 monthly dividend to be paid on December 18th, reflecting an annualized yield of 13.8%.
• Several analysts have issued mixed ratings on Saratoga, with Zacks downgrading the stock from "hold" to "strong sell," and overall consensus leaning towards a "Reduce" rating.

Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR - Free Report) - Equities researchers at B. Riley dropped their FY2026 earnings estimates for Saratoga Investment in a research note issued on Wednesday, October 15th. B. Riley analyst S. Adams now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $2.24 for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.57. B. Riley currently has a "Neutral" rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Saratoga Investment's current full-year earnings is $3.93 per share. B. Riley also issued estimates for Saratoga Investment's Q4 2026 earnings at $0.44 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $0.53 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.55 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.55 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.10 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on SAR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Saratoga Investment to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Janney Montgomery Scott reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Saratoga Investment from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $23.63.

Saratoga Investment Stock Up 0.7%

Saratoga Investment stock opened at $21.72 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $349.69 million, a P/E ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 0.66. Saratoga Investment has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $26.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $30.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.39 million. Saratoga Investment had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 27.19%.

Saratoga Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. Saratoga Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $382,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 40,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,256 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $155,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment during the 2nd quarter worth about $355,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 43.1% during the 2nd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 186,253 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,619,000 after buying 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.

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