Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.77 per share on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has raised its dividend by an average of 79.8% per year over the last three years. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a dividend payout ratio of 99.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Blackstone Secured Lending Fund to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.3%.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock opened at $33.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.48. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $27.76 and a fifty-two week high of $34.64. The company has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 0.43.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 53.91% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The company had revenue of $353.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $346.52 million. Analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BXSL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $33.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.50 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $32.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.54.

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).