Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Lowered 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 research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TSLX. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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 research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $21.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.33.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

TSLX opened at $22.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 2.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.00. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 52-week low of $19.50 and a 52-week high of $23.15.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts predict that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,393,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,972,000 after purchasing an additional 103,634 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 5.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 10.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 2.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 16.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,175,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,131,000 after buying an additional 162,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Company Profile

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.