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

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 raised its dividend by an average of 79.8% per year 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. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of BXSL stock traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $33.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,131,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,059,876. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $32.95 and its 200-day moving average is $31.47. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $27.76 and a fifty-two week high of $34.64. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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).