Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Shares Gap Down to $31.83

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $31.83, but opened at $31.10. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares last traded at $31.15, with a volume of 31,472 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BXSL shares. Bank of America raised shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.00 to $31.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.92.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.08.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.05). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 55.54% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $303.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $305.08 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.56 EPS 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, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.06%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s payout ratio is presently 82.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Harbor Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,288,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 549,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,193,000 after acquiring an additional 253,504 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 14.9% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,540,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,987,000 after acquiring an additional 200,109 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the fourth quarter worth $54,740,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the first quarter valued at $5,866,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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).