SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 1,490,090 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 294% from the previous session’s volume of 378,540 shares.The stock last traded at $13.0240 and had previously closed at $12.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLRC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research downgraded SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on SLR Investment from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLR Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $14.10.

SLR Investment Trading Up 0.2%

The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.82 and a 200-day moving average of $14.10. The stock has a market cap of $707.10 million, a PE ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.64.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%.The firm had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.01 million. On average, analysts anticipate that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid 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 currently 75.61%.

Insider Transactions at SLR Investment

In other news, insider Michael S. Gross bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.09 per share, for a total transaction of $130,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,035,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,820,152.77. This trade represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Closed End Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the fourth quarter worth $4,033,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in SLR Investment by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 577,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,932,000 after buying an additional 77,705 shares during the period. Muzinich & Co. Inc. increased its stake in SLR Investment by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,261,000 after buying an additional 145,323 shares during the period. Triad Investment Management acquired a new position in SLR Investment in the 4th quarter worth $1,930,000. Finally, Altrafin AG purchased a new position in SLR Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $786,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

SLR Investment Company 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.