Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Purchases New Holdings in SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of SLR Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:SLRC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 13,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLRC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 935,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,060,000 after buying an additional 17,774 shares in the last quarter. Condor Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of SLR Investment in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,118,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 225,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,628,000 after buying an additional 11,637 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 185,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,983,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SLR Investment by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 137,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,220,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares in the last quarter. 35.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SLRC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut SLR Investment from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $15.50 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on SLR Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on SLR Investment in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.25.

SLR Investment Stock Performance

Shares of SLR Investment stock opened at $15.00 on Wednesday. SLR Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $13.93 and a 52 week high of $16.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $818.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.43 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.64.

SLR Investment (NASDAQ:SLRC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $58.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.23 million. SLR Investment had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 42.99%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SLR Investment Corp. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

SLR Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. SLR Investment’s payout ratio is presently 92.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Leonard M. Tannenbaum purchased 56,584 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.80 per share, with a total value of $724,275.20. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 184,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,478.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Leonard M. Tannenbaum purchased 10,000 shares of SLR Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.73 per share, for a total transaction of $87,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 1,270,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,093,760.99. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Leonard M. Tannenbaum purchased 56,584 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.80 per share, for a total transaction of $724,275.20. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 184,803 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,478.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 70,584 shares of company stock worth $855,625. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

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.