Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a growth of 17.5% from the February 13th total of 1,140,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 372,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $4,156,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 37,442 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company's stock.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Stock Up 0.7 %

TSLX stock traded up $0.16 on Friday, hitting $22.52. 947,040 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 340,133. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 12-month low of $19.50 and a 12-month high of $23.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.08.

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Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 38.67%. The company had revenue of $123.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $120.07 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 6.99%. This is a boost from Sixth Street Specialty Lending's previous dividend of $0.05. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's payout ratio is currently 90.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSLX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.50 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.07.

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.