Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 3,201 call options on the company. This is an increase of 754% compared to the average volume of 375 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BXSL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:BXSL traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.59. 946,601 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 937,941. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.43. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 12 month low of $27.23 and a 12 month high of $32.67. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $30.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.69.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's dividend payout ratio is presently 79.79%.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Company Profile

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).