Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.92.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.50 to $30.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $31.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the fourth quarter worth $222,243,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,630,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,288,000 after acquiring an additional 73,428 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 18.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,494,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,598,000 after acquiring an additional 550,914 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 5.5% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,620,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,397,000 after acquiring an additional 84,139 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.7% during the third quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 1,383,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,863,000 after acquiring an additional 36,188 shares during the period. 36.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Performance

Shares of BXSL stock opened at $30.73 on Wednesday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52-week low of $24.83 and a 52-week high of $31.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.63.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $304.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.58 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 53.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.02%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.38%.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act).