Trexquant Investment LP Increases Stock Position in Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) by 133.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,544 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.45% of Saratoga Investment worth $1,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in Saratoga Investment during the third quarter worth about $1,450,000. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Saratoga Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $236,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $116,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Saratoga Investment by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 144,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,464,000 after purchasing an additional 6,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 911 shares during the period. 19.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Compass Point lowered their price objective on shares of Saratoga Investment from $26.25 to $25.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 report on Tuesday, April 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Saratoga Investment has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.08.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

SAR opened at $22.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.64 and a 200-day moving average of $24.42. The company has a market capitalization of $327.23 million, a P/E ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 0.94. Saratoga Investment Corp. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $26.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.08. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. Equities analysts expect that Saratoga Investment Corp. will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saratoga Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.15%. This is an increase from Saratoga Investment’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. Saratoga Investment’s payout ratio is presently 120.97%.

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.