Wall Street Zen Upgrades Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) to “Hold”

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

BXSL has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $30.50 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.16.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE BXSL opened at $25.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.42. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 1-year low of $24.85 and a 1-year high of $34.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.57 and its 200 day moving average is $30.02.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.04). Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 44.25%.The company had revenue of $344.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.55 million. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Robert J. Bass acquired 3,760 shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.63 per share, for a total transaction of $100,128.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 21,167 shares in the company, valued at $563,677.21. The trade was a 21.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXSL. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 45.1% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 109.6% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the period. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the first quarter worth about $66,000. Institutional investors own 36.49% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

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).