Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on BXSL. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.75 to $24.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.50 to $23.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.75.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Performance

Shares of BXSL stock opened at $23.41 on Friday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a one year low of $22.47 and a one year high of $32.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.37.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 31.63%.The business had revenue of $254.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.15 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.2%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 161.26%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone Secured Lending Fund news, insider Robert J. Bass acquired 2,095 shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.80 per share, for a total transaction of $49,861.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 25,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,546.60. This trade represents a 9.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 135.1% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 36.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.