SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Short Interest Update

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 484,904 shares, a drop of 20.4% from the March 15th total of 609,038 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 336,959 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.91 per share, with a total value of $347,750.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,014,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,844,490.91. This trade represents a 0.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 48,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 211.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 114,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after buying an additional 10,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 38,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 2,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SLRC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Compass Point raised SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 target price on SLR Investment and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on SLR Investment from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.29.

SLR Investment Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:SLRC traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $15.99. 272,405 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 308,358. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. SLR Investment has a 1 year low of $13.78 and a 1 year high of $17.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.05. The company has a market cap of $872.33 million, a PE ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 0.69.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $54.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.97 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 42.34%. Equities analysts anticipate that SLR Investment will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors 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 10.3%. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is presently 96.47%.

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.