SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on SLRC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of SLR Investment from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 price target on shares of SLR Investment and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.29.

SLR Investment Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:SLRC opened at $14.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $803.12 million, a PE ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.07. SLR Investment has a fifty-two week low of $13.64 and a fifty-two week high of $17.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $54.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.97 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 42.34% and a return on equity of 8.76%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SLR Investment will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.1%. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is currently 96.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael S. Gross bought 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.91 per share, with a total value of $347,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,014,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,844,490.91. The trade was a 0.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 8.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of SLR Investment by 1,389.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of SLR Investment by 215.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. 35.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.