Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $17.58, but opened at $16.98. Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares last traded at $16.7650, with a volume of 17,364 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $17.50 to $16.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sixth Street Specialty Lending currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Down 1.6%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 9.83, a quick ratio of 9.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 21.79% and a return on equity of 11.33%. The firm had revenue of $97.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLX. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the 1st quarter worth $273,434,000. Strs Ohio raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 101.8% in the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 4,347,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,911,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193,551 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,571,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,562,000 after purchasing an additional 59,937 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 28.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,366,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,629,000 after purchasing an additional 519,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the second quarter valued at $34,552,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc (NYSE:TSLX) is a business development company (BDC) that provides financing to established middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in privately originated debt, including first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, subordinated debt and other credit investments. It may also make select equity investments in connection with its lending activities.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending generally focuses on companies with experienced management teams, strong market positions and established operating histories.