BXSL Stock: $0.77 Dividend, $0.75 of Income, NAV $25.53

What BXSL is, and one premise to correct

BXSL is the exchange-listed BDC managed by Blackstone Private Credit Strategies LLC, an affiliate of Blackstone Inc. It priced its IPO on October 28, 2021 and trades on the NYSE under BXSL. At June 30, 2026 it held $13.4 billion of investments in 313 portfolio companies, 96.8% first-lien debt, with 232,652,003 shares and $5.94 billion of net assets (Form 10-Q). It is a different vehicle from Blackstone's non-traded BCRED, which holds about six times as much and is covered in its own page.

The premise that BXSL pays a base dividend plus specials does not match its filings. The dividend tables in the FY2025 10-K (2023, 2024 and 2025) and in the 2026 10-Qs list one regular per-share amount each quarter, and the phrase “special dividend” appears nowhere in the 10-K, the three 10-Qs or the 2026 8-Ks we saved. The regular dividend was $0.70 for the first two quarters of 2023 and has been $0.77 since. NII ran above distributions by $0.96 a share in 2023 and $0.43 in 2024 (our arithmetic); that surplus was not paid out as dividends, which is why the cushion in the next section matters.

This page quotes no current share price, because prices are not in SEC filings. Where it uses a price, it is the figure the fund itself prints in its financial highlights for a stated date.

The dividend against income: one payout, a shrinking cushion

Every row is from the filing named. Cover is NII per share divided by the regular dividend per share (our arithmetic). The first table is calendar years from the 10-K's financial highlights; the second is the five quarters from the August 6, 2026 earnings release.

Two things move the cover. Yield on performing debt fell from 10.2% to 9.4% in a year while the portfolio grew, so total investment income was $320.5 million in Q2 2026 against $344.8 million a year earlier, down 7%. And the surplus over the dividend has gone from $0.96 a share in 2023 to $0.15 in 2025 and $0.06 over the twelve months to June 2026 (our arithmetic). Declared, the dividend is $3.08 a year; at the June 30 NAV of $25.53 that is the 12.1% “dividend yield” the company quotes, and it is a payout rate on NAV, not a return.

The dividend history is short enough to list. Declared February 27 and May 10, 2023: $0.70 each. Declared June 20, 2023: $0.77. Every declaration since, including the February 25, 2026, May 7, 2026 and August 6, 2026 ones, is $0.77. Each full table is in the CSV.

Why NII held at $0.75: the incentive fee

Blackstone's incentive fee on income is 17.5% over a 1.5% quarterly hurdle with 100% catch-up, measured over a trailing twelve quarters, and capped: the cap is 17.5% of the cumulative net return, which subtracts realized and unrealized capital losses over the same window. When the portfolio loses value, the cap bites and the fee falls.

The 10-Q's own words for the fee: it decreased “primarily due to the Incentive Fee Cap, which limits the total incentive fee payable to the Adviser for the three months ended June 30, 2026.” Put per share, the fee was $0.15 in Q2 2025 and $0.01 in Q2 2026 (our arithmetic on 228.2 and 232.6 million weighted shares). The same source of relief is not guaranteed to continue: it runs on the capital losses of the last twelve quarters, so if marks stabilize and fall out of the window, the fee returns and NII would carry it.

Two more filters on the $0.75. PIK interest income was $21.1 million in Q2 and $42.6 million in the half, 6.6% of total investment income and 12.1% of NII in the quarter (10-Q), versus 12.6% a year earlier. Taking PIK out of NII leaves $152.7 million, or 85.2% of the $179.1 million of dividends declared for the quarter (our arithmetic); for the half it is 86.6%. PIK is real income the borrower owes, and it is also income that has not been collected in cash. And the 10-Q's sensitivity table says a 100 basis point fall in rates would cut annualized net income by $108.8 million, about $0.47 a share, before incentive fees (our arithmetic on 232.7 million shares), because 99.3% of performing debt floats.

NAV, and the price the filings print

NAV per share fell from $27.39 at the end of 2024 to $26.92 (2025) and $25.53 at June 30, 2026. In the first six months of 2026 the 10-Q's financial highlights show NII of $1.52 and distributions of $1.54, which nearly cancel, and a net loss on realized and unrealized items of $1.37 a share, which is the fall in NAV. The fair value of debt investments dropped 1.1% of principal in Q1 and 1.0% in Q2, which the 10-Q puts down to “changes in certain portfolio company fundamentals and broader economic conditions.”

The fund also prints the year-end or period-end market price in the same table. These are dated records, not quotes:

On June 30, 2026 the stock was recorded at 7.1% below NAV, and the $3.08 annual dividend was 13.0% of that $23.71 (our arithmetic). The Board authorized a $250.0 million buyback in February 2026 for open-market purchases below NAV, and the 10-Q says no shares were repurchased in the three or six months to June 30. The at-the-market program had $557.4 million of capacity left, and no shares were issued in the half other than through dividend reinvestment.

Non-accruals: eight issuers in March, six in June

A loan goes on non-accrual when the fund doubts it will collect principal or interest in full. The 10-Q table of portfolio characteristics gives two measures, at cost (what was lent) and at fair value (what the fund now says it is worth):

The company said at the August 6 results that no new assets were placed on non-accrual in the quarter. The jump happened in the first quarter. What happened in the second is that two issuers left the list without being paid back, as far as the schedules show. ACI Group Holdings and DCA Investment Holdings are non-accrual in the March 31 schedule (ACI at $134.2 million principal and $93.6 million fair value on the first loan alone) and absent from the June 30 one, where the schedule instead lists “New ACI Buyer,” “New ACI Intermediate I” and “New ACI Holdings” positions dated June 29, 2026 and a “DCA Investment Holding” loan dated June 2, 2026. Our reading is that these are the restructured claims; the 10-Q does not name them in its discussion, which says the Q2 net realized loss on investments of $41.4 million was “mainly driven by the restructuring of certain debt investments and full or partial sales and repayments of investments.” The new ACI positions in the June schedule include a $20.3 million second-lien note paying 10.00% in kind and $57.2 million of common units, so some of what looked like debt is now PIK debt and equity.

The six issuers on the June 30, 2026 list, from the schedule of investments (footnote 17, “Loan was on non-accrual status as of June 30, 2026”), in thousands of dollars. The cost and fair value totals are our sums of the eight loans:

The totals tie to the 10-Q's percentages: $496.4 million is 3.6% of the $13.86 billion cost of all investments and $247.0 million is 1.8% of the $13.36 billion fair value (our arithmetic). WHCG's fair value above its cost is as printed; the loan's cost basis is far below its principal.

Medallia: the position that moves the quarter

One name is 79% of the non-accrual fair value and 77% of the cost (our arithmetic: 195.6 over 247.0 and 383.2 over 496.4). The schedules for the main Medallia first-lien loan, due October 29, 2028:

The loan lost $111.6 million of value in six months, $0.48 per share on 232.7 million shares, about a third of the $1.37 a share of total losses in the half (our arithmetic). Software is the largest industry at 18.9% of the portfolio against 20.5% at year-end; Medallia's $111.6 million drop alone is 0.8 point of today's portfolio, about half of that 1.6-point fall (our arithmetic; other marks and repayments also moved). The 10-Q's discussion of the economy names “artificial intelligence disruption in certain sectors” among the uncertainties without tying it to any borrower. The earnings presentation shows no single issuer above 3% of the portfolio; Medallia is 1.5% of investments at fair value and 3.3% of net assets (our arithmetic).

BXSL and BCRED: same manager, same loans, different cushions

The two funds are advised by Blackstone affiliates, and the 10-Q says the advisers and their affiliates “have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by our Advisers.” In the June 30, 2026 schedules, five of BXSL's six non-accrual issuers also appear with the non-accrual footnote in BCRED's 10-Q; Titan is the exception (we found no Titan position in BCRED's schedule). Sums of the schedule lines, in thousands of dollars:

Same manager, same ratio: the marks agree to within half a point. That is consistent, and it also means the two funds do not offer independent opinions on these loans. What differs is the balance sheet around them. Medallia is 1.5% of BXSL's investments and 3.3% of its net assets; it is 0.7% of BCRED's investments and 1.3% of its net assets (our arithmetic). Side by side at June 30, 2026, from each fund's own 10-Q:

On a per-share basis BXSL's income is closer to its payout (99% against 89% for BCRED's Class I over the half, our arithmetic), and it carries more debt against its equity (1.28 times against 0.82 times), so a given loss in portfolio value falls harder on its NAV (our reading). BCRED's NAV fell less in percentage terms, and a BCRED holder faces a different question, the one our BCRED page covers: how much of a tender request gets filled. The listed fund answers that with a price. For the other BDCs with filings, see our BDC stocks list and the 36-BDC non-accrual comparison.

Leverage, the September 2026 notes and the August amendment

Debt principal was $7,613.7 million at June 30, 2026 against net assets of $5,938.7 million, 1.28 times (our arithmetic; the company's ratio is 1.28x, and 1.27x on carrying value). Asset coverage was 178.0% against the 150% legal minimum. Holding debt constant, the reported 178.0% would reach 150% if the assets counted fell about 15.7% (our arithmetic from the reported ratio, a rough guide, not a covenant test). Cash outside restricted accounts was $183.4 million, and $2.8 billion of facilities were undrawn, of which $2.6 billion was available under the borrowing base. The Q2 weighted average interest rate was 4.95% and the all-in cost of debt 5.05%.

The “swapped” notes are fixed-rate notes the fund converted to floating with interest rate swaps, to match its floating-rate loans. The older low-coupon notes are the issue. The $700.0 million of 2.750% notes matured on September 16, 2026, after the 10-Q was filed, and the $650.0 million of 2.125% notes mature on February 15, 2027. The September 2029 and May 2031 issues were priced at 5.250% and 5.900% in March and May 2026. As an illustration, not a forecast: replacing $1.35 billion at those rates would cost roughly $47 million more a year, about $0.20 a share (our arithmetic, at 5.900% on the full amount; the actual funding could be cheaper, for example on the revolver at SOFR plus 1.525% to 1.775%). Our search of EDGAR through October 15 finds no 8-K announcing a new notes offering after the September 16 maturity; the Form 10-Q for September 30 will show how it was repaid.

On August 10, 2026 the fund signed a fifth amendment to its Citibank-led revolver (8-K filed August 12). It extends the borrowing period to August 10, 2030 and maturity to August 10, 2031, except $200.0 million of commitments that still mature on June 28, 2027, and changes aggregate commitments from $2.425 billion to $2.375 billion; among the terms the 8-K lists “a resetting of the minimum shareholders’ equity.” Ratings, per the August 6 presentation: Moody's Baa2 with a negative outlook (issued June 1, 2026), S&P BBB- stable (June 1, 2026) and Fitch BBB stable (reaffirmed April 9, 2026). The company says its underlying loans are not rated and that Blackstone pays the three agencies.

Where the loans are

By industry at June 30, 2026 against December 31, 2025, from the 10-Q (percent of investments at fair value):

Geographically 85.1% is in the United States and 12.3% in Europe. 99.4% of the portfolio is Level 3, valued in good faith by or under the direction of the board using unobservable inputs (our arithmetic: $13,282.8 million of $13,364.3 million). The company-reported weighted average loan-to-value was 51.9% against 46.9% a year earlier, and average borrower EBITDA $221 million; the 10-Q says these figures come from borrowers, “have not been independently verified.” Unfunded commitments were $1.4 billion, down from $1.8 billion in December.

People and votes in the 8-Ks

The fund's 8-Ks in the quarter record that its Chief Operating Officer departed on June 15, 2026 and that Jonathan Bock resigned as Co-Chief Executive Officer on July 20, 2026, in each case saying the departure was not the result of a disagreement. The August 6 release is attributed to Brad Marshall as Chief Executive Officer. At the September 24 annual meeting, two Class II trustees were elected with sizable withheld votes: Robert Bass received 40,169,472 votes for and 27,142,325 withheld (40.3% of for-plus-withheld, our arithmetic), and Michelle Greene 47,821,033 for and 19,490,764 withheld (29.0%), with 94,362,630 broker non-votes; the auditor, Deloitte & Touche, was ratified with 160,052,128 votes for and 1,077,105 against.

What a holder or reader can do with this

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. What the filings let you check yourself:

• Test the 97%, not the yield. Net investment income covered 97% of the regular dividend in the second quarter of 2026. Ask next quarter whether the incentive fee stayed near zero and what NII was before it ($0.755 in Q2).
• Read non-accruals at cost and at fair value, and by name. 3.6% and 1.8% hide a concentration: Medallia is 47% of the non-accrual fair value. A change in that one mark moves NAV by about $0.17 for each 10 points of principal (our arithmetic: $39.3 million over 232.7 million shares).
• Watch four dates. The September 30 quarter-end 10-Q (last year the 10-Q for that quarter was filed November 10), which will show how the September 16 notes were paid and any new non-accruals; the $0.77 payable on or about October 23, 2026; the February 15, 2027 notes; and the June 2027 revolver tranche.
• Compare with a non-traded fund by what you can sell. BXSL's holder sells at a market price that was 7.1% under NAV on June 30. A non-traded BDC holder sells at NAV in a tender offer and may be prorated; compare in our non-traded BDC list.
• Know what you hold twice. If you own BCRED or another Blackstone vehicle as well as BXSL, the Medallia, Paramount, WHCG, Benefytt and Material loans are in both, at the same marks.
• Tax: dividends from a BDC. The 10-K shows 94.5% of 2025 dividends were interest-related and none were capital gain dividends; ask for your own 1099-DIV and see our 1099-DIV timeline.

If a large part of your savings or income sits in one BDC, a conversation with a qualified adviser about how it fits the rest of your holdings may be worth having.

FAQ

All figures are from Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's SEC filings (CIK 1736035) read on EDGAR on October 15, 2026: Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (accession 0001736035-26-000016, filed August 6, 2026), Form 10-Q for March 31, 2026 (0001736035-26-000010), Form 10-Q for June 30, 2025 (0001736035-25-000018), Form 10-K for 2025 (0001736035-26-000004), the earnings release furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K of August 6, 2026 (0001213900-26-085889), and the Forms 8-K of March 3, May 21, June 18, July 24, August 12 and September 30, 2026; BCRED figures are from Blackstone Private Credit Fund's Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (CIK 1803498, accession 0001803498-26-000048). Cover ratios, sums across loans and quarters, per-share effects and percentage changes are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.