Saratoga Investment Corp. Increases Quarterly Dividend From $0.71 To $0.72 Per Share

Author: Benzinga Newsdesk | November 15, 2023 09:32am

Saratoga Investment Corp. (NYSE:SAR) ("Saratoga Investment" or "the Company"), a business development company, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share for the fiscal third quarter ended November 30, 2023, an increase of $0.01 from $0.71 per share in the prior fiscal second quarter, and the fifteenth quarterly dividend increase in a row. This dividend is payable on December 28, 2023, to all stockholders of record at the close of business on December 11, 2023.

"We continue to benefit from the absolute level of interest rates on our largely floating rate assets, which when combined with the recent growth of our overall portfolio, its high-quality nature and resilient performance and our largely fixed rate liabilities, have resulted in record earnings," said Christian L. Oberbeck, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saratoga Investment. "Saratoga's third quarter dividend of 72c per share reflects an approximately 6% increase year-over-year and a 36% increase over the past two years. Annualizing this dividend rate, coupled with our last reported quarterly adjusted net investment income of $1.08 per share, imply an 11.5% dividend yield, and importantly, a 17.2% earnings yield based on Saratoga's recent stock price of $25.06 per share on November 13, 2023."

This is the third dividend declared in fiscal year 2024. The Company previously declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share for the quarter ended August 31, 2023 and $0.70 per share for the quarter ended May 31, 2023. During fiscal 2023 the Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.69 per share for the quarter ended February 28, 2023, $0.68 per share for the quarter ended November 30, 2022, $0.54 per share for the quarter ended August 31, 2022 and $0.53 per share for the quarter ended May 31, 2022. During fiscals 2022 and 2021 the Company declared a total dividend of $2.45 per share and $1.23 per share, respectively.

Shareholders will have the option to receive payment of the dividend in cash or receive shares of common stock pursuant to the Company's dividend reinvestment plan ("DRIP"). Saratoga Investment shareholders who hold their shares with a broker must affirmatively instruct their brokers prior to the record date if they prefer to receive this dividend, and future dividends, in common stock.  The number of shares of common stock to be delivered shall be determined by dividing the total dollar amount by 95% of the average of the market prices per share at the close of trading on the ten (10) trading days immediately preceding (and including) the payment date.

Posted In: SAR