Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Wednesday, January 7th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE:BXSL opened at $23.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.92. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $34.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.41.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 39.69% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The firm had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.59 million. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 139.9% during the 1st 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. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 61.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 341,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,513,000 after purchasing an additional 129,892 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the second quarter worth about $457,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,125,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 8.4% during the second quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 8,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.