Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. by 62.7%, now owning 150,381 shares valued at approximately $2.31 million.
• Oaktree Specialty Lending reported Q1 earnings of $0.45 per share, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.51, with revenues also missing estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40, representing an annual yield of 11.07%, but has a remarkably high payout ratio of 1,230.77%.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. (NASDAQ:OCSL - Free Report) by 62.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,381 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 252,977 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned 0.18% of Oaktree Specialty Lending worth $2,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Canton Hathaway LLC grew its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 152.6% in the 1st quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 7,350 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440 shares during the period. Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 4th quarter valued at $178,000. REDW Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $200,000. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 14,013 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,542 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,910 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 2,124 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.79% of the company's stock.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Trading Down 0.9%

OCSL traded down $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $13.91. The company had a trading volume of 443,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,305. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.00 and a beta of 0.68. Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. has a 1 year low of $12.50 and a 1 year high of $18.27. The company's fifty day moving average price is $14.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $70.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $84.67 million. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 11.77% and a net margin of 2.55%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on OCSL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, B. Riley started coverage on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig A. Jacobson bought 14,910 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $13.41 per share, for a total transaction of $199,943.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 71,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $961,054.47. This represents a 26.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Armen Panossian bought 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.13 per share, for a total transaction of $113,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 20,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $293,748.57. This trade represents a 62.55% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Oaktree Specialty Lending

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation is a business development company. The fund specializing in investments in middle market, bridge financing, first and second lien debt financing, unsecured and mezzanine loan, mezzanine debt, senior and junior secured debt, expansions, sponsor-led acquisitions, preferred equity, and management buyouts in small and mid-sized companies.