SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

SLRC has been the subject of several other reports. Compass Point upgraded SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 price target on shares of SLR Investment and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.07.

SLR Investment Price Performance

SLRC stock opened at $13.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $736.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.14. SLR Investment has a 12 month low of $13.41 and a 12 month high of $17.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at SLR Investment

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 10,452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $13.90 per share, for a total transaction of $145,282.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,025,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,949,626.70. The trade was a 0.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SLRC. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 173.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 16,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 10,591 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 4,295 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 42,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $782,000. 35.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.