SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $12.32 and last traded at $12.35, with a volume of 331304 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on SLRC shares. Wall Street Zen cut SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research cut SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on SLR Investment from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLR Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.40.

SLR Investment Trading Down 1.2%

The firm has a market cap of $673.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.53 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $14.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.68.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $47.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.01 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%. As a group, equities analysts expect that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.0%. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.61%.

Insider Transactions at SLR Investment

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross bought 10,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.09 per share, with a total value of $130,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,035,153 shares in the company, valued at $52,820,152.77. This represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLRC. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 10,591 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,295 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the 2nd quarter worth $190,000. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 worth $685,000 after buying an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at $782,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.