Muzinich & Co. Inc. Boosts Holdings in SLR Investment Corp. $SLRC

Muzinich & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) by 37.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 145,323 shares during the quarter. SLR Investment makes up 2.6% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings in SLR Investment were worth $8,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Triad Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of SLR Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $1,930,000. Epiq Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 392,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,006,000 after purchasing an additional 40,830 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 330,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,046,000 after purchasing an additional 121,432 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,195,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,274,000 after purchasing an additional 74,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SLR Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $632,000. 35.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLRC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of SLR Investment from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of SLR Investment from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.29.

SLR Investment Price Performance

SLR Investment stock opened at $14.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $799.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. SLR Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $13.64 and a 1 year high of $17.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.06.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $54.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.97 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 42.34% and a return on equity of 8.76%. Sell-side analysts predict that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is 96.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SLR Investment news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 25,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $13.91 per share, with a total value of $347,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,014,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,844,490.91. This represents a 0.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.