Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Shares Down 0.4% – Here’s Why

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)’s share price fell 0.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $21.49 and last traded at $21.51. 119,911 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 346,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on TSLX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.06. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.99.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.55% and a net margin of 39.05%. The firm had revenue of $119.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.59%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

Institutional Trading of Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLX. Comerica Bank grew its position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 315,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,727,000 after buying an additional 4,782 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,711,000 after buying an additional 16,770 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 572,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,222,000 after buying an additional 29,365 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 410,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,755,000 after buying an additional 184,634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

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.