Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $4.57 Million Investment in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 282,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,565,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in SLR Investment by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,336,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,113,000 after purchasing an additional 4,510 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,044,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,874,000 after buying an additional 44,861 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,895,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLR Investment by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 155,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 41,773 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,902,000. Institutional investors own 35.32% of the company’s stock.

SLR Investment Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SLR Investment stock opened at $17.09 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. SLR Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $14.41 and a 12-month high of $17.94. The company has a market capitalization of $932.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.29.

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

SLR Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.60%. SLR Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on SLRC shares. Compass Point lifted their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $16.50 to $17.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of SLR Investment from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SLR Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.85.

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.