Traders Purchase High Volume of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Call Options (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 3,201 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 754% compared to the typical daily volume of 375 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BXSL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.50 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.80.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the second quarter worth $32,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1,466.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Clear Point Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 15.9% in the second quarter. Clear Point Advisors Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 36.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

NYSE:BXSL opened at $30.59 on Friday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 1-year low of $27.23 and a 1-year high of $32.67. The stock has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.69.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $327.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.23 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 58.08%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.07%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.79%.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Company Profile

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).