Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Oaktree Specialty Lending Co. (NASDAQ:OCSL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th.

Oaktree Specialty Lending has a payout ratio of 95.2% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Research analysts expect Oaktree Specialty Lending to earn $1.96 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 112.2%.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCSL traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.79. 810,625 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 605,379. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a fifty-two week low of $14.89 and a fifty-two week high of $20.43. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.19.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Oaktree Specialty Lending had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $86.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Oaktree Specialty Lending will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on OCSL. Citizens Jmp lowered Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Oaktree Specialty Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JMP Securities lowered Oaktree Specialty Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Oaktree Specialty Lending from $17.00 to $15.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oaktree Specialty Lending has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.75.

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.