Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 18,187 Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)

Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 18,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 14.2% in the third quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 113,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,094 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the third quarter valued at about $196,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 26.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 5,398 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 50.8% in the third quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 26,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 16.4% in the third quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 18,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591 shares during the period. 70.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $21.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Stock Performance

Shares of TSLX stock opened at $22.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $21.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.50 and a 12-month high of $22.48.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.55% and a net margin of 39.05%. Analysts expect that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.59%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.32%.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

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.