B. Riley Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL)

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) – Equities research analysts at B. Riley cut their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for Oaktree Specialty Lending in a report released on Wednesday, May 1st. B. Riley analyst B. Rowe now expects that the credit services provider will post earnings of $0.57 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.58. B. Riley has a “Neutral” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Oaktree Specialty Lending’s current full-year earnings is $2.28 per share. B. Riley also issued estimates for Oaktree Specialty Lending’s FY2024 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.60 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.55 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.28 EPS.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $94.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.66 million. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 12.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS.

OCSL has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Oaktree Specialty Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Oaktree Specialty Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.67.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Price Performance

OCSL stock opened at $19.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.95. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a 1 year low of $17.99 and a 1 year high of $21.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oaktree Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCSL. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,415,358 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,902,000 after purchasing an additional 137,929 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oaktree Specialty Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,626,000. LSV Asset Management grew its position in 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 worth $22,883,000 after buying an additional 66,066 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending during the 4th quarter worth $495,000. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 19,733 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phyllis R. Caldwell acquired 2,000 shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.07 per share, for a total transaction of $40,140.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,101.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.40%. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 164.18%.

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.