Epiq Partners LLC Sells 74,921 Shares of SLR Investment Corp. $SLRC

Epiq Partners LLC lowered its stake in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 349,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74,921 shares during the period. SLR Investment accounts for about 1.8% of Epiq Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Epiq Partners LLC’s holdings in SLR Investment were worth $4,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in SLR Investment by 1,389.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the third quarter worth $48,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of SLR Investment by 114.3% in the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of SLR Investment from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of SLR Investment from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 10,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $13.09 per share, for a total transaction of $130,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,035,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,820,152.77. The trade was a 0.25% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SLR Investment Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:SLRC opened at $13.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $719.10 million, a P/E ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. SLR Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $12.13 and a 1 year high of $16.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.00.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.33. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%.The company had revenue of $20.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.82 million. Sell-side analysts expect that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.61%.

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.