Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call January 10, 2024 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Henri Steenkamp - Chief Financial and Chief Compliance Officer
Christian Oberbeck - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Grisius - Chief Investment Officer
Conference Call Participants
Erik Zwick - Hovde Group
Mickey Schleien - Ladenburg Thalmann
Robert Dodd - Raymond James
Casey Alexander - Compass Point Research & Trading
Bryce Rowe - B. Riley
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Saratoga Investment Corp's 2024 Fiscal Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions.
At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Saratoga Investment Corp's Chief Financial and Chief Compliance Officer, Mr. Henri Steenkamp. Sir, please go ahead.
Henri Steenkamp
Thank you. I would like to welcome everyone to Saratoga Investment Corp's 2024 fiscal third quarter earnings conference call.
Today's conference call includes forward-looking statements and projections. We ask you to refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required to do so by law.
Today, we will be referencing a presentation during our call. You can find our fiscal third quarter 2024 shareholder presentation in the Events and Presentations section of our Investor Relations website. A link to our IR page is in the earnings press release distributed last night.
A replay of this conference call will also be available. Please refer to our earnings press release for details.
I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christian Oberbeck, who will be making a few introductory remarks.
Christian Oberbeck
Thank you, Henri, and welcome everyone.
Saratoga's adjusted net investment income per share increased 31% as compared to last year, yet decreased slightly as compared to last quarter. The sequential quarterly per share decrease equates to the $0.07 dilution from the increased weighted average shares outstanding from our recent ATM equity issuances, with much of that cash yet to be deployed. This quarterly performance significantly exceeded our recently increased dividend by 40%.
The level of interest rates stabilized in the recent quarter, resulting in elevated margins on our growing portfolio relative to the past year. In addition, the continued general contraction of available credit for smaller middle market businesses and our ongoing development of sponsor relationships has created an abundant flow of attractive investment opportunities from high-quality sponsors at attractive pricing terms and absolute rates.