Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by LADENBURG THALM/SH SH

LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on TSLX. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $21.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.33.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TSLX opened at $22.97 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.54 and a 200 day moving average of $21.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.06. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 12 month low of $19.50 and a 12 month high of $23.15. 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 (NYSE:TSLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 39.05% and a return on equity of 13.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is presently 89.32%.

Institutional Trading of Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,393,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,972,000 after buying an additional 103,634 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,305,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,104,000 after purchasing an additional 122,312 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,252,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,249,000 after purchasing an additional 215,996 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,183,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,201,000 after purchasing an additional 33,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,175,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,131,000 after purchasing an additional 162,810 shares in the last quarter. 70.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.