Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley Financial dropped their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.86.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BXSL opened at $24.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.82. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $33.73.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $196.54 million during 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, research analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is presently 125.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXSL. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 60,616.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 3,637 shares in the last quarter. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 107,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 19,807 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $378,000. Finally, Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter worth $2,651,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.