SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $12.17 and last traded at $12.44, with a volume of 288638 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLRC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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 lowered SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SLR Investment in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $14.40.

SLR Investment Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $678.73 million, a P/E ratio of 7.59 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $13.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.58.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last issued 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.0%. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.61%.

Insider Transactions at SLR Investment

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $52,820,152.77. This represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SLR Investment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new position in SLR Investment during the fourth quarter worth $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. boosted its position in shares of SLR Investment by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,261,000 after purchasing an additional 145,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triad Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,930,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.