Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Short Interest Up 27.6% in March

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,710,000 shares, a growth of 27.6% from the February 28th total of 1,340,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 387,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on TSLX. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.17.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth about $4,156,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,192,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,700,000 after purchasing an additional 37,442 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 52,051 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.25% of the company's stock.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TSLX traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $21.87. The stock had a trading volume of 488,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 341,683. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 0.88. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 12-month low of $19.50 and a 12-month high of $23.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $123.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.07 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 38.67% and a return on equity of 13.47%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from Sixth Street Specialty Lending's previous dividend of $0.05. This represents a yield of 6.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.64%.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Company Profile

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.