Mariner LLC Trims Holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX)

Mariner LLC trimmed its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE:TSLX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,260 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending were worth $844,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in Sixth Street Specialty Lending during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its position in shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending by 92.5% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares during the last quarter. 70.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on TSLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $21.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Sixth Street Specialty Lending from $21.50 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TSLX opened at $21.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.39. Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.58 and a fifty-two week high of $23.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Sixth Street Specialty Lending had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 38.67%. The company had revenue of $123.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.07 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.07 dividend. This is an increase from Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s previous dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 6.99%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.64%.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc (NYSE: TSLX) is a business development company. The fund provides senior secured loans (first-lien, second-lien, and unitranche), unsecured loans, mezzanine debt, and investments in corporate bonds and equity securities and structured products, non-control structured equity, and common equity with a focus on co-investments for organic growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, restructuring initiatives, recapitalizations, and refinancing.