Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) Short Interest Update

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 8,236,876 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the February 26th total of 6,540,916 shares. Currently, 9.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,676,736 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sixth Street Specialty Lending news, VP Alan Waxman bought 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.18 per share, with a total value of $3,636,000.00. Following the purchase, the vice president directly owned 500,000 shares in the company, valued at $9,090,000. This trade represents a 66.67% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 545,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,997,150. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLX. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 124,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 9,230 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 38.5% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 16,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 4,597 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 0.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 942,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,448,000 after buying an additional 4,638 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 10.0% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 485,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,558,000 after buying an additional 44,015 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the second quarter valued at about $1,236,000. 70.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on TSLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.94.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Up 1.9%

TSLX stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Monday, reaching $17.83. 519,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,038,018. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.12. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a 1 year low of $16.99 and a 1 year high of $25.17.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $108.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.11 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 37.99% and a return on equity of 12.71%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Sixth Street Specialty Lending will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.66%.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Company Profile

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Inc (NYSE: TSLX) is a closed-end, externally managed business development company that provides flexible debt financing solutions to middle-market companies. The fund primarily targets senior secured loans, unitranche facilities, mezzanine debt, second-lien financings and equity co-investment opportunities. By structuring tailored capital solutions, Sixth Street Specialty Lending seeks to support growth initiatives, recapitalizations and refinancings across a diverse set of industries, including technology, healthcare and business services.

As an affiliate of Sixth Street Partners, a global alternative investment firm, the company leverages the broader platform’s credit research, operational expertise and industry relationships.