SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) Short Interest Up 19.7% in December

SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 187,800 shares, a growth of 19.7% from the November 30th total of 156,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 167,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLR Investment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the second quarter worth about $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in SLR Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $90,000. Creative Planning purchased a new position in SLR Investment during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $170,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in SLR Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at $197,000. 35.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on SLR Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLR Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.25.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

SLR Investment stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.22. 163,907 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 160,299. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.75. SLR Investment has a fifty-two week low of $14.41 and a fifty-two week high of $16.91. The firm has a market cap of $884.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $59.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.48 million. SLR Investment had a net margin of 40.89% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SLR Investment will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is 92.66%.

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.