Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Shares in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. $OCSL

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. (NASDAQ:OCSL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 752,396 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,980,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCSL. Bruni J V & Co. Co. acquired a new position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending during the second quarter valued at $29,549,160. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 298.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 626,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,556,000 after acquiring an additional 469,328 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,333,643 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $16,991,000 after acquiring an additional 429,303 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,841,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,988,000. 36.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on OCSL shares. B. Riley Financial reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Oppenheimer set a $13.00 price objective on Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.83.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCSL opened at $13.11 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $12.34 and a 200-day moving average of $12.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. has a twelve month low of $10.63 and a twelve month high of $14.31.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $69.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.40 million. Analysts forecast that Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is 250.00%.

About Oaktree Specialty Lending

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ: OCSL) is a closed-end, externally managed specialty finance company structured as a business development company (BDC). Launched in 2014, Oaktree Specialty Lending provides customized debt solutions to U.S. middle-market companies, with a focus on senior secured loans, second-lien financings, mezzanine debt and select equity co-investments. The company’s investment strategy centers on floating-rate instruments designed to offer downside protection and income potential in varying interest rate environments.

The firm’s portfolio spans a diverse array of industries, including healthcare, technology, energy, business services and consumer products.