Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.77

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.77 per share on Friday, April 24th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a dividend payout ratio of 101.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Blackstone Secured Lending Fund to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.3%.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock opened at $24.23 on Thursday. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $34.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.00.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 42.38% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm had revenue of $196.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.59 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BXSL shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. B. Riley Financial cut their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.88.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Company Profile

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE: BXSL) is a closed-end management investment company sponsored by Blackstone Credit, the credit-oriented business of Blackstone Inc Launched in May 2020, BXSL seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily through current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation. The fund raises capital from institutional and retail investors and deploys it into a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans and other credit instruments.

The fund’s principal investment focus is on first-lien senior secured loans and unitranche debt extended to middle-market companies across North America.