Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.38.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BXSL shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Shares of BXSL stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $32.03. The stock had a trading volume of 688,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,049,386. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $25.89 and a 12-month high of $34.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.21 and a 200 day moving average of $31.75. The stock has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.44.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 53.91% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business had revenue of $357.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $358.40 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's payout ratio is 97.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Robert J. Bass acquired 1,626 shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.78 per share, with a total value of $50,048.28. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,403 shares in the company, valued at $535,664.34. This trade represents a 10.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BXSL. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 27,747 shares of the company's stock worth $897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,391 shares of the company's stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 25,180 shares of the company's stock worth $814,000 after purchasing an additional 6,943 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 72,040 shares of the company's stock worth $2,328,000 after purchasing an additional 9,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.49% of the company's stock.

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).