Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in SLR Investment Corp. $SLRC

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 40,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $632,000. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of SLR Investment at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in SLR Investment by 215.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in SLR Investment in the third quarter worth $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in SLR Investment in the third quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment during the third quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross bought 25,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were bought 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 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLRC has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.29.

SLR Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ SLRC opened at $14.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $796.58 million, a P/E ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 0.69. SLR Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $13.64 and a 52 week high of $17.19. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.65 and a 200-day moving average of $15.08.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $54.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.97 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 42.34%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.2%. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.47%.

SLR Investment 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.