Saratoga Investment Corp to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:SAR)

Key Points

• Saratoga Investment declared a monthly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable November 24 to shareholders of record November 5. The payment implies a 17.3% annualized yield.
• The dividend carries some sustainability risk: the current payout ratio is 90.4%, while analysts expect next year’s earnings of $2.00 per share versus $3.00 in annual dividends, implying a potential 150% payout ratio.
• Saratoga Investment’s latest quarterly results missed expectations, with EPS of $0.47 versus the $0.54 consensus and revenue of $30.78 million versus $31.38 million expected. Shares recently traded at $17.35, near their 52-week low of $17.20.

Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR - Get Free Report) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 5th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, November 24th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 5th.

Saratoga Investment has increased its dividend by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years. Saratoga Investment has a payout ratio of 90.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings fall. Equities analysts expect Saratoga Investment to earn $2.00 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 150.0%.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

Saratoga Investment stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.35. The company had a trading volume of 185,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 134,058. Saratoga Investment has a 52 week low of $17.20 and a 52 week high of $25.15. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $19.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.07). Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $30.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Saratoga Investment will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Saratoga Investment

Saratoga Investment Corp. is a closed-end, externally managed investment company that seeks to generate current income and total return through a diversified portfolio of private U.S. companies. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SAR, the firm primarily targets middle-market businesses across a broad range of industries, including industrials, healthcare, consumer products, financial services and technology. Its investment approach combines debt and equity instruments, providing flexible capital solutions such as first-lien and second-lien secured loans, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and common equity positions.

As an actively managed vehicle, Saratoga Investment works closely with portfolio companies’ management teams to support growth initiatives, operational improvements, and strategic transactions.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.