SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.0714.

SLRC has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Compass Point upgraded shares of SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 price objective on shares of SLR Investment and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.91 per share, for a total transaction of $347,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,014,701 shares in the company, valued at $55,844,490.91. This trade represents a 0.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLR Investment

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in SLR Investment by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,357,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,990,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in SLR Investment by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,195,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,274,000 after purchasing an additional 74,983 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in SLR Investment by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 577,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,932,000 after purchasing an additional 77,705 shares during the period. Muzinich & Co. Inc. raised its position in SLR Investment by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,261,000 after purchasing an additional 145,323 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in SLR Investment by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 449,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,946,000 after purchasing an additional 33,185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

SLR Investment stock opened at $13.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $736.01 million, a P/E ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 0.71. SLR Investment has a fifty-two week low of $13.41 and a fifty-two week high of $17.19.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.01 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 41.81% and a return on equity of 8.33%. On average, equities research analysts expect that SLR Investment will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

About SLR Investment

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: SLRC) is a closed‐end, externally managed business development company that provides customized debt and equity financing solutions to middle‐market companies. The firm seeks to generate current income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in senior secured loans, second lien financings, mezzanine debt and equity co‐investments. Its flexible capital approach allows it to structure financing across the capital structure to address a range of sponsor‐backed transactions.

SLR Investment Corp.