Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Shares Break Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)’s stock price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.29 and traded as high as $18.34. Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares last traded at $17.5770, with a volume of 480,946 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $17.50 to $16.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.83.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 9.83 and a current ratio of 9.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.87. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.62.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $97.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.28 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 21.79%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 176.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Miller Global Investments LLC grew its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 265.4% in the 3rd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 37,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 27,509 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.0% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 216,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,896,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the second quarter valued at $200,000. Ehrenkranz Partners L.P. increased its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 14.8% in the second quarter. Ehrenkranz Partners L.P. now owns 43,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 30.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 305,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,247,000 after purchasing an additional 71,693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Company Profile

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc (NYSE:TSLX) is a business development company (BDC) that provides financing to established middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in privately originated debt, including first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, subordinated debt and other credit investments. It may also make select equity investments in connection with its lending activities.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending generally focuses on companies with experienced management teams, strong market positions and established operating histories.