Short Interest in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Decreases By 35.9%

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 142,000 shares, a drop of 35.9% from the September 15th total of 221,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 142,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Institutional Trading of SLR Investment

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in SLR Investment by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 34,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in SLR Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $195,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $267,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,821,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the first quarter valued at approximately $74,000. 35.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SLRC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $15.50 to $15.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on SLR Investment in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLR Investment presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.25.

SLR Investment Price Performance

SLRC traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $15.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,180. SLR Investment has a 12 month low of $13.93 and a 12 month high of $16.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.63. The stock has a market cap of $822.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 1.13.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $58.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.23 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 42.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SLR Investment will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.17%.

About SLR Investment

SLR Investment Corp. is a business development company specializing in secured debt (first lien unitranche and second lien), subordinated (unsecured) debt, minority equity, leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, recapitalizations, general refinancing, growth capital and strategic income-oriented control equity investments in leveraged middle market companies.