Short Interest in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Expands By 17.5%

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a growth of 17.5% from the February 13th total of 1,140,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 372,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,393,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,972,000 after acquiring an additional 103,634 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,390,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,921,000 after acquiring an additional 137,906 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,305,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,104,000 after acquiring an additional 122,312 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,192,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,700,000 after acquiring an additional 37,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,183,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,201,000 after acquiring an additional 33,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on TSLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.07.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of TSLX traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $22.30. 38,271 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 336,418. The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.08. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.50 and a fifty-two week high of $23.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.31 and its 200-day moving average is $21.34.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $123.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.07 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 38.67% and a return on equity of 13.47%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This is a boost from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 6.99%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.64%.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc (NYSE: TSLX) is a business development company. The fund provides senior secured loans (first-lien, second-lien, and unitranche), unsecured loans, mezzanine debt, and investments in corporate bonds and equity securities and structured products, non-control structured equity, and common equity with a focus on co-investments for organic growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, restructuring initiatives, recapitalizations, and refinancing.