Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 3,201 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 754% compared to the average volume of 375 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BXSL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $31.50 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.80.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXSL. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1,466.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Clear Point Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clear Point Advisors Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 36.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, reaching $31.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 934,105. The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.69. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52-week low of $27.23 and a 52-week high of $32.67.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.01). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 58.08%. The company had revenue of $327.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.93%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.79%.

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).