Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Shares Gap Down to $21.40

Shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $21.40, but opened at $20.92. Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares last traded at $20.90, with a volume of 94,228 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sixth Street Specialty Lending presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.67.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Down 1.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.01 and a 200-day moving average of $21.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $121.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.33 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 44.55%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.01%. This is a boost from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Judy S. Slotkin bought 7,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.90 per share, with a total value of $139,598.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,647.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the 2nd quarter valued at about $493,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 368,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,873,000 after acquiring an additional 33,228 shares in the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 128,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,748,000 after buying an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 482.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,134,000 after purchasing an additional 237,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Progeny 3 Inc. grew its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,036,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,485,000 after buying an additional 50,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

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.