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

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 1,490,090 shares were traded 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on SLR Investment from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research lowered SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut SLR Investment from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.10.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $696.46 million, a P/E ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.64. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $12.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.07.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $47.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.01 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 41.81% and a return on equity of 8.33%. As a group, research analysts expect that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.7%. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is presently 75.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLR Investment

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.09 per share, with a total value of $130,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,035,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,820,152.77. This trade represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new stake in SLR Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $5,411,000. Closed End Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,033,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the third quarter valued at about $2,650,000. Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,261,000 after buying an additional 145,323 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,930,000. 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.