SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Short Interest Update

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 343,200 shares, a growth of 60.9% from the February 28th total of 213,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 176,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SLRC. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in SLR Investment by 1,642.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in shares of SLR Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the third quarter worth approximately $90,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 7,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $191,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

SLR Investment Price Performance

Shares of SLRC stock traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $17.15. 217,321 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 155,870. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.32. The firm has a market cap of $935.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 1.13. SLR Investment has a 52 week low of $14.41 and a 52 week high of $17.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $55.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.08 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 40.89% and a return on equity of 9.73%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SLR Investment will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.56%. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLRC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $17.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on SLR Investment from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.85.

SLR Investment Company Profile

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.