Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Rating Increased to Outperform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $30.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $31.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BXSL. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.50 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group started coverage on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, B. Riley began coverage on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.16.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:BXSL opened at $26.06 on Monday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52-week low of $25.73 and a 52-week high of $34.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.24. The company has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18 and a beta of 0.42.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.04). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 44.25% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $344.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.55 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio is presently 108.45%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 11.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 832,179 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 156,680 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 216,835 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 54.1% during the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 3,214,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.0% during the second quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 2,011,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,860,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Company Profile

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).