Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) Short Interest Up 124.1% in March

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a growth of 124.1% from the February 28th total of 646,900 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 858,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCSL has been the subject of several analyst reports. B. Riley downgraded shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.75.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ OCSL traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $15.50. 626,610 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 711,557. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a 12 month low of $14.89 and a 12 month high of $19.95. The company has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $86.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Oaktree Specialty Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 238.81%.

Institutional Trading of Oaktree Specialty Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCSL. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 130,410 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,993,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd lifted its position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 36,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,651 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 1,830 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 27,234 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,910 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 2,124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.79% of the company’s stock.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Company Profile

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.