Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.80.

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

Oaktree Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of OCSL stock opened at $19.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a 1-year low of $17.99 and a 1-year high of $21.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $20.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.01.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The credit services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share 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 company 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, research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 145.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oaktree Specialty Lending

In other Oaktree Specialty Lending news, Director Phyllis R. Caldwell purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 11,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,101.62. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OCSL. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $16,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670,805 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,486,654 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,911,000 after buying an additional 303,600 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,415,358 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,902,000 after buying an additional 137,929 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $8,099,000 after buying an additional 209,037 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 4.1% during 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 buying an additional 48,182 shares in the last quarter. 36.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.