SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) shares saw strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 765,743 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 107% from the previous session’s volume of 369,518 shares.The stock last traded at $12.6550 and had previously closed at $12.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SLRC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLR Investment has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.10.

SLR Investment Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.14 and a 200 day moving average of $14.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $697.39 million, a PE ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 0.64.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last posted 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). SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%.The business had revenue of $47.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.01 million. Sell-side analysts predict that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.09 per share, with a total value of $130,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,035,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,820,152.77. This represents a 0.25% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SLRC. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 1,389.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $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 during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in SLR Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. 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.