Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.0938.

A number of brokerages have commented on BXSL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of BXSL stock opened at $23.81 on Monday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $23.30 and a 12-month high of $33.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.28.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.9%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 125.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 135.1% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. 36.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.