Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.1250.

Several equities analysts recently commented on BXSL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 28th.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:BXSL opened at $25.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.89. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a twelve month low of $24.85 and a twelve month high of $34.64.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.02. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 42.38%.The company had revenue of $358.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.55 million. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.0%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is currently 115.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 14,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Delphi Management Inc. MA lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 45,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 5.9% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.7% during the third quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

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.