Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) Short Interest Down 12.1% in May

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 197,600 shares, a decline of 12.1% from the April 30th total of 224,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 109,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company's shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $23.50 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Saratoga Investment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $24.58.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Saratoga Investment by 33.4% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 193,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,893,000 after acquiring an additional 48,351 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 128,379 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,071,000 after purchasing an additional 7,556 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 2.9% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 125,792 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 6.6% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 114,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 109,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.09% of the company's stock.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

SAR stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.43. 79,546 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 90,304. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.46. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $375.31 million, a PE ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.68. Saratoga Investment has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $26.49.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.21). Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $31.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.86 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Saratoga Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a dividend yield of 12.31%. Saratoga Investment's dividend payout ratio is 147.06%.

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.