Mutual Advisors LLC Invests $625,000 in Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL)

Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,629 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OCSL. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,277,429 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $25,702,000 after acquiring an additional 79,137 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 6.2% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,137,333 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $22,883,000 after purchasing an additional 66,066 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending during the third quarter worth $4,626,000. Black Swift Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in the third quarter valued at $2,309,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Oaktree Specialty Lending by 245.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 52,900 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 37,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.79% of the company’s stock.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Performance

OCSL stock opened at $19.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. has a 12-month low of $17.99 and a 12-month high of $21.64.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The credit services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $97.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.48 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.28%. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s payout ratio is currently 145.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Phyllis R. Caldwell purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.07 per share, with a total value of $40,140.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $224,101.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on OCSL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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 note 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

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.