Short Interest in Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Drops By 28.3%

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,040,000 shares, a decrease of 28.3% from the March 15th total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 824,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oaktree Specialty Lending

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 42.6% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,196 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 12,903 shares in the last quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending during the 1st quarter worth $247,000. GraniteShares Advisors LLC boosted its position in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 6.5% during the first quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 172,258 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 10,440 shares in the last quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 14.6% in the first quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 15,700 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 197.6% in the first quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 53,610 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 35,595 shares in the last quarter. 36.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ OCSL opened at $14.35 on Friday. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a twelve month low of $12.50 and a twelve month high of $19.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.65. The firm has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $86.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.15%. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 238.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Oaktree Specialty Lending from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.42.

About Oaktree Specialty Lending

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation is a business development company. The fund specializing in investments in middle market, bridge financing, first and second lien debt financing, unsecured and mezzanine loan, mezzanine debt, senior and junior secured debt, expansions, sponsor-led acquisitions, preferred equity, and management buyouts in small and mid-sized companies.