Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Short Interest Update

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the August 31st total of 1,130,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 940,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BXSL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.50 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 5,035,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715,357 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 106.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,180,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,393,000 after buying an additional 1,640,211 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 140,837.8% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 759,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,261,000 after buying an additional 759,116 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,199,000. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,042,000. 36.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Down 2.5 %

BXSL stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Monday, reaching $29.44. 568,758 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 933,327. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.77. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 1 year low of $25.83 and a 1 year high of $32.67.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $327.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $310.23 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 58.08% and a return on equity of 13.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.13%.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act).