Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Price Target to $26.00

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) had its price objective decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.50 to $24.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.28.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock opened at $24.67 on Thursday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $22.47 and a 12-month high of $32.81. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.73.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 39.69% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The company had revenue of $196.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.59 million. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is currently 125.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BXSL. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 135.1% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the third quarter worth $53,000. 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.