Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, a drop of 27.2% from the March 31st total of 1,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 421,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLX. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 105.0% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 576.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.50 target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.60.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TSLX traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.68. 473,585 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 354,734. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.07. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a one year low of $17.31 and a one year high of $22.35.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $119.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.18 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 50.69%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 70.77%.

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.