Wall Street Zen Upgrades Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) to Hold

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on BXSL. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.75 to $24.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.75.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Performance

Shares of BXSL stock opened at $23.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.37. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52-week low of $22.47 and a 52-week high of $32.81. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.68 and its 200 day moving average is $24.38.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $254.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.15 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 31.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone Secured Lending Fund news, insider Robert J. Bass bought 2,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.80 per share, for a total transaction of $49,861.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,107 shares in the company, valued at $597,546.60. This trade represents a 9.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 135.1% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 36.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.