Short Interest in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Rises By 19.0%

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 10,743,624 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the March 15th total of 9,030,522 shares. Approximately 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,769,650 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Up 0.5%

BXSL stock traded up $0.13 on Friday, reaching $24.67. 2,674,009 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,535,631. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.11 and a 200-day moving average of $25.73. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a twelve month low of $22.47 and a twelve month high of $32.81. The firm has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.40.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 39.69%.The firm had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.59 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.5%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio is 125.20%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BXSL. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 135.1% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BXSL shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.50 to $24.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley Financial lowered Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.28.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE: BXSL) is a closed-end management investment company sponsored by Blackstone Credit, the credit-oriented business of Blackstone Inc Launched in May 2020, BXSL seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily through current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation. The fund raises capital from institutional and retail investors and deploys it into a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans and other credit instruments.

The fund’s principal investment focus is on first-lien senior secured loans and unitranche debt extended to middle-market companies across North America.