Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (OCSL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 on March 31st

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th.

Oaktree Specialty Lending has a dividend payout ratio of 95.2% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Analysts expect Oaktree Specialty Lending to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 113.4%.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCSL opened at $15.75 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.97. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a fifty-two week low of $14.89 and a fifty-two week high of $19.95.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $86.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.93 million. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company’s revenue was down 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on OCSL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price target (down previously from $17.00) on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a report on Friday, November 22nd. B. Riley cut Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Oaktree Specialty Lending from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.75.

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.