Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Reaches New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after B. Riley Financial downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a neutral rating. B. Riley Financial now has a $24.50 price target on the stock. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund traded as low as $22.64 and last traded at $22.7750, with a volume of 372762 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.11.

BXSL has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.50 to $24.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial dropped 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 report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXSL. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 139.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 10,696 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 90,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,783,000 after acquiring an additional 12,450 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,122,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 568.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 17,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 2nd quarter valued at $455,000. 36.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 0.40.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 39.69%.The firm had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.59 million. On average, sell-side 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. 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 13.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio is currently 125.20%.

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.