StockNews.com Downgrades Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) to Hold

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of Saratoga Investment from $26.25 to $25.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.08.

Saratoga Investment Trading Down 0.3 %

SAR opened at $25.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $362.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $24.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.46. Saratoga Investment has a 12 month low of $21.56 and a 12 month high of $26.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 15.53%. Sell-side analysts expect that Saratoga Investment will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Saratoga Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 59,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Saratoga Investment by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 29,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.