B. Riley Has Pessimistic Outlook of SAR FY2026 Earnings

Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) – Research analysts at B. Riley lowered their FY2026 EPS estimates for Saratoga Investment in a report released on Wednesday, October 15th. B. Riley analyst S. Adams now expects that the financial services provider will earn $2.24 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.57. B. Riley has a “Neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Saratoga Investment’s current full-year earnings is $3.93 per share. B. Riley also issued estimates for Saratoga Investment’s Q4 2026 earnings at $0.44 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $0.53 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.55 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.55 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.10 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on SAR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Saratoga Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Saratoga Investment in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Saratoga Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.63.

Saratoga Investment Price Performance

Saratoga Investment stock opened at $21.94 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $353.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.32 and its 200 day moving average is $24.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Saratoga Investment has a 52-week low of $21.10 and a 52-week high of $26.49.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $30.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.39 million. Saratoga Investment had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 10.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAR. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Saratoga Investment in the first quarter worth about $398,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 300.0% in the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 36.4% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 6,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 2.9% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 125,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Saratoga Investment by 23.0% in the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 10,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 19.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Saratoga Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.7%. Saratoga Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.21%.

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.