SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the four brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and three have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SLRC shares. B. Riley upped their target price on SLR Investment from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on SLR Investment from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

Insider Activity at SLR Investment

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 40,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.08 per share, with a total value of $603,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 3,642,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,923,229.92. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 40,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.08 per share, with a total value of $603,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 3,642,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,923,229.92. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 22,636 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.74 per share, with a total value of $356,290.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,804,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,888,496.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 109,336 shares of company stock valued at $1,680,539. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SLR Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLRC. Ares Management LLC raised its stake in SLR Investment by 19.3% during the first quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 1,895,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,362,000 after buying an additional 306,084 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in SLR Investment by 70.8% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 471,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,803,000 after buying an additional 195,228 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in SLR Investment during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,821,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in SLR Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,780,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in SLR Investment by 42.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 326,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,781,000 after buying an additional 96,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLRC opened at $14.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $817.31 million, a PE ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.03. SLR Investment has a 12 month low of $13.48 and a 12 month high of $15.86.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $59.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.00 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 33.31%. As a group, research analysts forecast that SLR Investment will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.14%.

About SLR Investment

SLR Investment Corp. is a business development company specializing in secured debt (first lien unitranche and second lien), subordinated (unsecured) debt, minority equity, leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, recapitalizations, general refinancing, growth capital and strategic income-oriented control equity investments in leveraged middle market companies.