Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL)

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. (NASDAQ:OCSL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 128,175 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 27,229% compared to the average daily volume of 469 call options.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Price Performance

Oaktree Specialty Lending stock opened at $13.59 on Friday. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a 12-month low of $12.44 and a 12-month high of $16.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 34.85 and a beta of 0.52.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 18th. The credit services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 10.71% and a return on equity of 10.31%. The company had revenue of $76.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 410.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oaktree Specialty Lending

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCSL. Bfsg LLC grew its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 13,475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 5.6% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 15,171 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC increased its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 8.3% during the second quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 11,578 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 891 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 1.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 19.4% during the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 7,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCSL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.25.

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.