Trexquant Investment LP Cuts Stock Position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. $TSLX

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP sold 13,889 shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE: TSLX), reducing its holdings by 8.4% to 150,630 shares valued at $3.37 million.
• Analysts have set a new price target range for TSLX, with JMP Securities increasing it to $25.00 and Wells Fargo raising theirs to $24.00, indicating a generally positive outlook.
• Sixth Street Specialty Lending announced a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, which will be paid on September 30th, representing a 0.8% annualized yield.

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX - Free Report) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 150,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,889 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.16% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending worth $3,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TSLX. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 8,526 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 193,312 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,118,000 after acquiring an additional 11,574 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,035,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 199,266 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,244,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth approximately $334,000. 70.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of TSLX traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.60. The company had a trading volume of 291,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,807. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.83. Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.58 and a fifty-two week high of $25.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.79, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $115.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.42 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 39.56% and a return on equity of 13.47%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on TSLX shares. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sixth Street Specialty Lending currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $23.28.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Profile

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.