Advisors Asset Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 126,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,837 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.92% of Saratoga Investment worth $2,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 14.3% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 126,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,926,000 after buying an additional 15,782 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in Saratoga Investment by 80.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 100,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,595,000 after purchasing an additional 44,722 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Saratoga Investment by 2,604.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 86,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 82,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TMD Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $1,520,000. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SAR. Compass Point raised shares of Saratoga Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.75 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Saratoga Investment from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $24.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Saratoga Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.94.

Saratoga Investment Stock Performance

Shares of SAR stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $23.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 54,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 59,262. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.29 and its 200-day moving average is $23.27. Saratoga Investment Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $22.35 and a fifty-two week high of $27.68. The company has a market capitalization of $321.89 million, a PE ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a current ratio of 0.07.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $37.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.59 million. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 14.67%. Equities research analysts expect that Saratoga Investment Corp. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Saratoga Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 13th. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 244.63%.

Saratoga Investment 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.