Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Increases Stake in SLR Investment Corp. $SLRC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 377,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,231 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in SLR Investment were worth $5,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in SLR Investment by 0.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,342,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,526,000 after purchasing an additional 11,052 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $18,274,000 after purchasing an additional 74,983 shares during the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,261,000 after purchasing an additional 145,323 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 500,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after buying an additional 91,622 shares during the period. Finally, Epiq Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 417,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,449,000 after buying an additional 24,338 shares during the period. 35.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SLR Investment

In other news, insider Michael S. Gross acquired 10,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.90 per share, for a total transaction of $145,282.80. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,025,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,949,626.70. This represents a 0.26% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 8.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised SLR Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 price target on SLR Investment and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on SLR Investment from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.29.

SLR Investment Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ SLRC opened at $16.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. SLR Investment Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $13.78 and a fifty-two week high of $17.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.06. The stock has a market cap of $880.05 million, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 0.69.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. SLR Investment had a net margin of 42.34% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $54.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.97 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.2%. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is 96.47%.

SLR Investment Profile

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.