Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.77 per share on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has increased its dividend by an average of 79.8% annually over the last three years. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a dividend payout ratio of 99.0% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Research analysts expect Blackstone Secured Lending Fund to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.3%.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Shares of BXSL opened at $33.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 0.43. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a one year low of $27.76 and a one year high of $34.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.48.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 53.91%. The business had revenue of $353.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $346.52 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $33.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Compass Point decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.50 to $32.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.50 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.54.

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).