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

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.10.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SLRC. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th.

SLR Investment Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ SLRC opened at $12.88 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.14. The stock has a market cap of $702.73 million, a P/E ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.64. SLR Investment has a 52 week low of $12.13 and a 52 week high of $16.83. 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 data on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.01 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%. Equities research analysts predict that SLR Investment will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.6%. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is 75.61%.

Insider Transactions at SLR Investment

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SLRC. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 10,591 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 11.7% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,295 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at $190,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter worth about $782,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

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.