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

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) shares reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $23.30 and last traded at $23.81, with a volume of 605328 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $23.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BXSL. Bank of America reduced their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 28th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Up 0.3%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.43.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.59 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 39.69%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,820,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,476,000 after purchasing an additional 832,179 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 112.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,149,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,597,000 after buying an additional 2,721,843 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 112.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,731,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $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 second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,260,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,024,000 after acquiring an additional 156,680 shares during the period. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 6.9% during the second quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 3,359,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,305,000 after acquiring an additional 216,835 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.