Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Receives $30.78 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.7813.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. B. Riley assumed coverage on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert J. Bass bought 3,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.63 per share, for a total transaction of $100,128.80. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 21,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $563,677.21. The trade was a 21.60% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BXSL. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the first quarter worth about $66,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 16.7% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 452,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,628,000 after purchasing an additional 64,541 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 40,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,304,000 after buying an additional 3,194 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 217.4% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 44,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 30,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 28.6% during the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 20,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558 shares during the period. 36.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of BXSL opened at $26.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.42. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a twelve month low of $24.85 and a twelve month high of $34.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.75.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $344.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.55 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 44.25%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is presently 108.45%.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act).