Short Interest in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Rises By 25.9%

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 8,236,876 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the February 26th total of 6,540,916 shares. Currently, 9.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,676,736 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TSLX. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Alan Waxman purchased 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.18 per share, with a total value of $3,636,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president owned 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,090,000. This trade represents a 66.67% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders acquired 545,000 shares of company stock worth $9,997,150 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 124,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,780,000 after buying an additional 9,230 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 16,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 4,597 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 0.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 942,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,448,000 after purchasing an additional 4,638 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 10.0% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 485,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,558,000 after purchasing an additional 44,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the second quarter worth $1,236,000. 70.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of TSLX stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.39. The company had a trading volume of 754,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,227,800. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $19.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.02. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $25.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.73.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $108.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.11 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 37.99% and a return on equity of 12.71%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is 101.66%.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Inc (NYSE: TSLX) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides flexible debt financing solutions to middle-market companies. The fund primarily targets senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, mezzanine debt, second-lien financings and equity co-investment opportunities. By structuring tailored capital solutions, Sixth Street Specialty Lending seeks to support growth initiatives, recapitalizations and refinancings across a diverse set of industries, including technology, healthcare and business services.

As an affiliate of Sixth Street Partners, a global alternative investment firm, the company leverages the broader platform’s credit research, operational expertise and industry relationships.