D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 8,699 Shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 169,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,699 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending were worth $3,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 72.5% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 306,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,527,000 after purchasing an additional 128,763 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 4.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth $387,000. Wealthstar Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth $2,782,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth $662,000. 70.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TSLX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.50 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.79.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:TSLX opened at $23.06 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. has a one year low of $19.50 and a one year high of $23.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a net margin of 38.67% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The firm had revenue of $123.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.07 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous dividend of $0.05. This represents a yield of 7.06%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is 90.64%.

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.