Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases New Stake in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC)

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 241,037 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,895,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC owned 0.44% of SLR Investment at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SLRC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of SLR Investment in the second quarter valued at about $786,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in SLR Investment in the second quarter worth $210,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SLR Investment during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its stake in shares of SLR Investment by 70.1% during the second quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 23,119 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 9,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in SLR Investment by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 89,066 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,433,000 after buying an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. 35.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SLR Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLR Investment has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.25.

SLR Investment Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of SLRC traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.75. 115,683 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 161,680. The company has a market cap of $913.88 million, a PE ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 1.13. SLR Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $14.41 and a 52 week high of $16.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.79. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 40.89%. The firm had revenue of $59.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. SLR Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.