LPL Financial LLC Acquires 29,685 Shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 603,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 29,685 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.64% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending worth $13,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Progeny 3 Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,390,680 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,921,000 after purchasing an additional 137,906 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.4% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,361,139 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,842,000 after purchasing an additional 55,767 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,192,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,700,000 after purchasing an additional 37,442 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 24.4% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,434,920 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,114,000 after purchasing an additional 281,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,183,141 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,201,000 after acquiring an additional 33,026 shares in the last quarter. 70.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on TSLX. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $21.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $23.28.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of TSLX traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.04. 434,969 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 437,133. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $23.80 and a 200-day moving average of $22.56. Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.58 and a 52 week high of $25.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a current ratio of 3.79.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 39.56% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The business had revenue of $115.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a boost from Sixth Street Specialty Lending's previous -- dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 770.0%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's payout ratio is currently 91.54%.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc NYSE: TSLX is a business development company. The fund provides senior secured loans (first-lien, second-lien, and unitranche), unsecured loans, mezzanine debt, and investments in corporate bonds and equity securities and structured products, non-control structured equity, and common equity with a focus on co-investments for organic growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, restructuring initiatives, recapitalizations, and refinancing.