Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a decline of 13.8% from the May 31st total of 2,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 524,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oaktree Specialty Lending

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Oaktree Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $71,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,100 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adalta Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Adalta Capital Management LLC now owns 6,825 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the last quarter. 36.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on OCSL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Oaktree Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Performance

Shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending stock opened at $18.81 on Friday. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a 12 month low of $18.41 and a 12 month high of $21.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.83.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.01). Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business had revenue of $94.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 164.18%.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Company Profile

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.