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Short Interest in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Drops By 58.8%

Financial News Live · Jan 26, 2023 22:35

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 149,700 shares, a decrease of 58.8% from the December 31st total of 363,500 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 713,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

In other news, CEO Brad Marshall purchased 3,481 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.08 per share, with a total value of $83,822.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 189,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,563,039.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone Secured Lending Fund news, COO Katherine Rubenstein purchased 3,359 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.83 per share, with a total value of $80,044.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $80,044.97. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brad Marshall purchased 3,481 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.08 per share, for a total transaction of $83,822.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 189,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,563,039.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 6,940 shares of company stock worth $166,256 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 110.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,050,894 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,712 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the second quarter valued at approximately $24,993,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 428.7% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 672,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,891,000 after purchasing an additional 545,063 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 95.0% during the third quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 612,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,939,000 after purchasing an additional 298,645 shares during the period. Finally, Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC now owns 567,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,673,000 after purchasing an additional 9,163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 31.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BXSL shares. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Friday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $27.58.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BXSL traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $23.55. The stock had a trading volume of 809,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 651,280. The business's 50 day moving average is $23.21 and its 200-day moving average is $23.59. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.40. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52 week low of $22.00 and a 52 week high of $30.35.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 10th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $226.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.78 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a net margin of 51.09% and a return on equity of 10.37%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, December 31st will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 29th. This is an increase from Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's dividend payout ratio is currently 99.59%.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

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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).