Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $24.65 and last traded at $24.90, with a volume of 1768257 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $25.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BXSL. B. Riley decreased their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.13.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.86. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 0.41.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $358.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.55 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 42.38% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is currently 115.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 11.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,820,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,476,000 after purchasing an additional 832,179 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 112.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,731,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,576,000 after buying an additional 2,504,617 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,260,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,024,000 after buying an additional 156,680 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 3,359,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,305,000 after buying an additional 216,835 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR grew its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 2,044,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,300,000 after buying an additional 32,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Company Profile

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE: BXSL) is a closed-end management investment company sponsored by Blackstone Credit, the credit-oriented business of Blackstone Inc Launched in May 2020, BXSL seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily through current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation. The fund raises capital from institutional and retail investors and deploys it into a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans and other credit instruments.

The fund’s principal investment focus is on first-lien senior secured loans and unitranche debt extended to middle-market companies across North America.