Investors Purchase Large Volume of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Put Options (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 2,204 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 84% compared to the average daily volume of 1,199 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BXSL. B. Riley Financial decreased their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.13.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Performance

NYSE BXSL remained flat at $24.33 during trading hours on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 480,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,321. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.59 and a 200-day moving average of $26.82. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $23.30 and a fifty-two week high of $33.73.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 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 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 125.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 112.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,149,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,597,000 after buying an additional 2,721,843 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 112.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,731,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,576,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504,617 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 11.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1,160.9% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 869,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,680,000 after acquiring an additional 800,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,142,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.