Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) has received an average rating of “Reduce” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.75.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down previously from $17.00) on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in the third quarter worth about $2,849,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 2.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 21.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 54,278 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 9,495 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 91.5% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,407,573 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $22,958,000 after acquiring an additional 672,561 shares during the period. Finally, Rivernorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the third quarter worth about $6,598,000. 36.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Price Performance

OCSL stock opened at $15.78 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $15.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.07. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a one year low of $14.89 and a one year high of $20.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.30.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $86.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.93 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s quarterly revenue was down 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is presently 328.36%.

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.