Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• The Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen.
• Despite the downgrade, other brokerages maintain a mixed outlook, with Wells Fargo raising its price target from $27 to $28 and Royal Bank of Canada lowering it from $33 to $32.
• The fund reported a miss on earnings per share of $0.77 for the last quarter, falling short of the expected $0.81, alongside a revenue of $344.80 million.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.32.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of BXSL stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,510,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,416,962. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.35 and a 200-day moving average of $30.75. The stock has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 0.45. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a twelve month low of $25.89 and a twelve month high of $34.64.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $344.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.55 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 44.25% and a return on equity of 12.07%. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,280 shares of the company's stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,487 shares of the company's stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,710 shares of the company's stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,270 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 14,715 shares of the company's stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. 36.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).