Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) Stock Price Passes Below 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) shares crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.10 and traded as low as $17.91. Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares last traded at $18.06, with a volume of 350,485 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $17.50 to $16.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.83.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.88. The company has a current ratio of 9.83, a quick ratio of 9.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.61.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $97.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.28 million. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 21.79%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.2%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is 176.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Ehrenkranz Partners L.P. raised its stake in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 14.8% during the second quarter. Ehrenkranz Partners L.P. now owns 43,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 305,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,247,000 after purchasing an additional 71,693 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 33,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 34,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 5,026 shares during the period. 70.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc (NYSE:TSLX) is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in privately negotiated loans and other debt investments, seeking to support businesses that may have limited access to traditional bank financing or public capital markets.

Its investment portfolio generally includes first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, mezzanine debt and, to a lesser extent, equity investments.