Brokerages Set Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Target Price at $32.79

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.63.

BXSL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $33.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of BXSL stock opened at $27.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.32 and its 200-day moving average is $31.84. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 1 year low of $25.89 and a 1 year high of $34.64.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $353.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $346.52 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 53.91% and a return on equity of 13.15%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.12%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.76%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 2,548.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,032,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,448,000 after acquiring an additional 10,615,491 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,682,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,925,000 after purchasing an additional 741,285 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,563,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,748,000 after buying an additional 2,035,623 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 4,953,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,033,000 after buying an additional 78,054 shares during the period. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 2,361,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,293,000 after buying an additional 264,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

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).