GSBD Dividend Coverage and Non-Accruals: Goldman Sachs BDC's NAV Fell From $14.62 to $12.06 in 10 Quarters

What GSBD is, in one paragraph

GSBD is the exchange-listed BDC managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. It lends mostly to middle-market companies: at June 30, 2026 it held 173 portfolio companies, 98.6% senior secured debt and 96.9% first lien (earnings release, August 2026), with net assets of $1,357.7 million and 112,569,067 shares outstanding. It is not the same vehicle as Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp., the non-traded BDC, or the real estate lender covered in our GS REFT page. Those are separate funds with separate shareholders. This page uses only GSBD's own filings and no share prices except the two year-end prices GSBD itself prints in its 10-K.

Eleven quarters: NAV, income and payout

Every row below is from the earnings release for that quarter (an 8-K exhibit). Coverage is NII per share divided by distributions recorded per share (our arithmetic). Distributions in 2025 and 2026 include base, special and supplemental dividends recorded in the quarter, so they are not the base rate.

Two numbers frame the table. NAV per share fell $2.56 (17.5%) from December 2023 to June 2026 and $1.35 (10.1%) from December 2024 (our arithmetic). Over the same six quarters since the cut, NII was $2.17 and distributions recorded were $2.55. The 10-K's annual view agrees: 2025 net investment income was $1.57 per share against $1.88 of distributions, 84% (our arithmetic); in 2024 it was $2.20 against $1.80, 122%. The same 10-K reports year-end market prices of $9.28 (December 31, 2025) against NAV of $12.64, 73% of NAV, and $12.10 (December 31, 2024) against $13.41, 90% (our arithmetic).

The dividend: one cut, then special and supplemental payments

On February 26, 2025 the board approved two changes, per the release filed February 27, 2025: the base quarterly dividend went to $0.32, “with upside potential through quarterly supplemental variable distributions in the amount of at least 50% of the Company’s net investment income in excess of the amount of the Base Dividend,” and the income-based incentive fee and cap dropped to 17.5% from 20% (the 10-Q gives both percentages). The same release declared a $0.16 special dividend for the first quarter of 2025 and authorized two more of about $0.16 for the next two quarters.

The “total recorded” column is the figure each release prints; it adds the previous quarter's supplemental to the current base and special, which is why Q1 2026 shows $0.35 (the $0.32 base plus the $0.03 supplemental from Q4 2025). The board declared a third-quarter 2026 base distribution of $0.32, payable on or about October 28, 2026 to holders of record on September 30, plus a $0.03 supplemental payable on or about September 15 (10-Q). The base alone is $1.28 a year, or 10.6% of the June 30 NAV of $12.06 (our arithmetic). The supplemental is variable by design, and the three $0.16 specials of 2025 are not scheduled to continue.

The honest read of the coverage column is that the base dividend is covered when the incentive fee is zero and not when it is not. Q2 2026 NII of $0.38 includes no incentive fee at all. Q1 2026 NII of $0.22 carries $12.44 million of it (the 10-Q gives the six-month fee; Q1 is the difference, our arithmetic). Averaged over the two quarters, NII is $0.30 a quarter, and the first half of 2026 shows $0.60 of NII against $0.67 of distributions recorded (our sums). Next data point: results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 will be released after the market closes on November 5, 2026, with a call on November 6 (8-K of October 5, 2026).

Fees, waivers and the incentive-fee swing

The 10-Q describes the terms. The management fee is 1.00% a year of average gross assets excluding cash, and the only waiver it mentions is for the fees the adviser earns on affiliated money market funds the company holds. The income incentive fee is paid over a trailing twelve-quarter window, with a 1.75% quarterly hurdle on NAV, 100% catch-up and then 17.5% of income above the catch-up for periods after December 31, 2024 (20% before), subject to a cap.

The company's explanation for the swing is that incentive fees are driven by “the performance of the investment portfolio for the twelve quarters” ending each date. Practically, a holder should expect quarterly NII to move by about $0.11 per share with that fee (our arithmetic: $12.44 million over 112.6 million weighted shares) while the fee turns on and off. Interest and other debt expense is the other large line: $30.10 million in Q2 2026 against $26.41 million a year earlier, which the 10-Q attributes to a higher combined weighted average interest rate after the 2026 and 2025 notes were repaid.

Non-accruals: cost versus fair value, and who is on the list

A loan on non-accrual is not paying interest the company expects to collect. The 10-Q reports the share of the portfolio on non-accrual at cost and at fair value, and the gap between the two is the mark.

December 2024 was inflated by one name. The 10-K schedule lists Lithium Technologies (now Khoros) first-lien debt at $97.0 million of cost and $34.3 million of fair value on non-accrual; the 10-Q for June 2026 shows Khoros realized a $70.05 million loss in the second quarter of 2025, and the first half of 2025 had $125.69 million of net realized losses. So the drop to $95.80 million at December 2025 was mostly exits and losses taken, not recoveries.

The June 30, 2026 schedule of investments flags 19 positions in ten companies. The cost and fair value below are our sums of each company's positions in the 10-Q schedule (in $ thousands); the full row-by-row list is in the CSV.

The total matches the 10-Q's $171.21 million of non-accrual cost; $91.6 million is 2.9% of the $3,195.25 million portfolio at fair value, the figure the release reports (our arithmetic). Four lines carry most of the cost: One GI, Wine.com, MPI and Pluralsight are 74% of it (our arithmetic). One GI's loans show a December 22, 2025 maturity in the schedule, and the One GI and MPI rows carry a footnote that reads “The Company is in discussions with the portfolio company to extend the maturity date through an amendment.”

The marks on the older names have kept moving. Per the schedules in the 10-K and the 10-Q:

The 10-Q also rates the whole book on a 1 to 4 scale. For investments graded 4, the 10-K definition says “it is anticipated that we will not recoup our initial cost basis and may realize a substantial loss of our initial cost basis upon exit.” At June 30, 2026 Grade 3 was $198.94 million (6.2%) and Grade 4 $82.89 million (2.6%), against $194.68 million (6.0%) and $75.05 million (2.3%) at December 31, 2025. Grade 3 and 4 together are $281.8 million, 8.8% of fair value (our sum).

Leverage, the revolver and the 2027 maturity

Net debt-to-equity was 1.17x at the end of 2024, 1.12x in June 2025, then 1.27x in December 2025 and 1.37x in March 2026 before easing to 1.35x in June. In the 10-Q the company writes: “As of August 6, 2026, our net debt-to-equity ratio decreased below our target of 1.25x, primarily due to repayments and sales.” The asset coverage ratio was 172% at June 30, 2026 (175% at December 31, 2025) against the 150% legal minimum, and the revolver carries its own 150% and 200% secured covenants, with which the company reported compliance.

The refinancing history explains the rising interest line. On February 7, 2025 GSBD borrowed $365.0 million on the revolver to repay $360.0 million of 3.75% notes. On January 15, 2026 it borrowed $505.0 million to repay $500.0 million of 2.875% notes, then on January 28 closed $400.0 million of 5.100% notes due 2029. The next fixed maturity is the $400.0 million of 6.375% notes due March 11, 2027, which the 10-Q says carry an interest rate swap, as do the 2029 and 2030 notes.

Buybacks, and no merger

GSBD sold shares through an at-the-market program in the first three quarters of 2024 and terminated that program on June 5, 2025. On June 13, 2025 it adopted a plan to buy back up to $75.0 million of stock when it trades below the last announced NAV. It repurchased 1,047,183 shares for $12.1 million in Q2 2025, 2,136,943 for $25.1 million in Q3 and 1,544,029 for $15.0 million in Q4: 4,728,155 shares for $52.2 million, about $11.04 a share (our sums), which equals the fall in shares outstanding from 117,297,222 to 112,569,067 in 2025. In the second quarter the 10-Q puts the weighted average cost at a 12.6% discount to NAV. There were no repurchases in Q1 2026 and, under the program the board authorized on May 6, 2026 for up to $75 million, none in Q2 either: the company “did not enter into the 2026 10b5-1 Plan.”

On a merger: none of the 2024 to 2026 filings we read announces one. The only merger the 10-K and the releases mention is the earlier one with Goldman Sachs Middle Market Lending Corp., whose purchase-discount amortization is still adjusted out of NII ($0.01 per share in Q2 2026). The 8-Ks of 2026 cover notes, board changes and the annual meeting held May 27, 2026.

What a holder or buyer can do with this

This is a checklist built from the filings, not a recommendation.

• Separate the two coverage questions. NII against the $0.32 base is one test. NII against base plus supplemental is another. Q2 2026 passes the first on a quarter with a zero incentive fee. Test the November 5 release for the quarter after the fee comes back.
• Watch non-accruals at cost. They were $171.21 million (5.0%) in June, and the schedule shows fair value already at 54% of that cost. A further cut in marks on One GI or Wine.com would show up in NAV, which fell $1.35 per share (10.1%) since December 2024.
• Check leverage against the 1.25x target. The company says it is below it. Net debt-to-equity is reported quarter-end; the next figure is in the November release.
• Mind the March 2027 maturity. $400 million of 6.375% notes mature in March 2027 against $795.6 million available on a revolver that was cut by $220 million this year.
• Compare against the price you can see. NAV is the number GSBD files. For the market price, use a live quote from your broker; this page does not use one.
• If your position is large, the tax character of distributions matters. The 10-K warns that a portion of distributions “may constitute a return of capital for U.S. federal income tax purposes”; read the year-end characterization before the 1099-DIV arrives (see the 1099-DIV timeline for BDC and REIT holders).

How GSBD compares with other BDCs in our tracking: the non-traded BDC list and the private credit redemptions tracker cover the unlisted funds; Blue Owl OBDC II is an example of a payout that exceeded income.

FAQ

All figures are from Goldman Sachs BDC, Inc.'s SEC filings read on EDGAR on October 7, 2026: the quarterly earnings releases furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to the 8-Ks of February 28, May 7, August 8 and November 7, 2024, February 27, May 8, August 7 and November 6, 2025 and February 26, May 7 and August 6, 2026; the FY2025 Form 10-K (accession 0001193125-26-077458); the Forms 10-Q for March 31 and June 30, 2026 (accessions 0001193125-26-212431 and 0001193125-26-338331); and the 8-Ks dated February 7, 2025, January 15, January 21, January 28, May 27 and October 5, 2026. Coverage ratios, sums across quarters and companies, per-share effects and percentages of NAV are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.