Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Holdings in SLR Investment Corp. $SLRC

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 379,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 59,194 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in SLR Investment were worth $5,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in SLR Investment by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 577,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,932,000 after buying an additional 77,705 shares during the period. Muzinich & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in SLR Investment by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 534,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,261,000 after buying an additional 145,323 shares during the period. Triad Investment Management purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the fourth quarter worth $1,930,000. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the fourth quarter worth $632,000. Finally, Epiq Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 11.6% during the third quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 392,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,006,000 after purchasing an additional 40,830 shares during the period. 35.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on SLRC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of SLR Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of SLR Investment from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SLR Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 target price on shares of SLR Investment and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLR Investment has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.40.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

Shares of SLR Investment stock opened at $12.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $697.82 million, a PE ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 0.64. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.83. SLR Investment Corp. has a one year low of $12.79 and a one year high of $17.19.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). SLR Investment had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 41.81%.The company had revenue of $47.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.01 million. Research analysts expect that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Activity at SLR Investment

In related news, insider Michael S. Gross purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.09 per share, for a total transaction of $130,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,035,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,820,152.77. This trade represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased a total of 45,452 shares of company stock worth $623,933 in the last three months. 8.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.