Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.80.

OCSL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Oaktree Specialty Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley cut shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Phyllis R. Caldwell acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.07 per share, with a total value of $40,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,101.62. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oaktree Specialty Lending

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 237.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,374,777 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670,805 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 25.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,486,654 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,911,000 after acquiring an additional 303,600 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,415,358 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,902,000 after acquiring an additional 137,929 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 18.3% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,349,903 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,099,000 after acquiring an additional 209,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,214,821 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,352,000 after purchasing an additional 48,182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.79% of the company’s stock.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCSL opened at $19.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.06. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a fifty-two week low of $17.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.97 and a 200-day moving average of $20.00.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The credit services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.04). Oaktree Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 28.81%. The firm had revenue of $97.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 145.70%.

About Oaktree Specialty Lending

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation is a business development company. The fund specializing in investments in middle market, bridge financing, first and second lien debt financing, unsecured and mezzanine loan, mezzanine debt, senior and junior secured debt, expansions, sponsor-led acquisitions, preferred equity, and management buyouts in small and mid-sized companies.