New York, Feb 25, 2026, 07:06 (EST) — Premarket
- OWL trades at $10.80 premarket, up 0.65%. The stock ended Tuesday at $10.73.
- Blue Owl caught a downgrade from Deutsche Bank, moving to Hold from its previous rating. The bank also slashed its price target—now $10, down sharply from $15.
- Retail private-credit flows and liquidity terms remain in sharp focus following recent shifts in fund structures.
Blue Owl Capital Inc shares ticked up 0.7% to $10.80 in premarket action Wednesday, drawing attention even after Deutsche Bank downgraded the alternative-asset manager. The move came as private-credit stocks continued to face pressure.
The downgrade drops into a delicate stretch for private credit, a corner of the market where investors are already questioning how quickly they can get cash out of semi-liquid funds. In private credit, loans typically bypass banks and go straight to private firms—making it tricky for investors to access their money on short notice.
Blue Owl has come under increased scrutiny after it took steps to offload $1.4 billion in loans from three credit funds and locked redemptions for good in one of them. The aim: pay back investors and cut down fund-level debt.
Blue Owl is now rated “Hold” instead of “Buy” by Deutsche Bank’s Brian Bedell, who also slashed his price target to $10, down from $15, according to TipRanks. The call comes as Bedell points to tougher conditions for net flows into retail private-credit products. TipRanks
Analysts set price targets to project where a stock might land in the next year. These are estimates, not guarantees, and they can change quickly if the narrative turns.
Blue Owl closed out Tuesday at $10.73, a 2.8% climb, having swung between $10.08 and $10.89 during the session, company figures indicate.
Despite the rebound, shares remain roughly 13% lower than where they finished on Feb. 18, Investing.com data show. Investors have shaved off value, citing concerns about liquidity pressure at the fund level and a possible deceleration in industry-wide inflows.
Last week, Blue Owl clarified it’s not freezing investor liquidity in its Blue Owl Capital Corp II fund. Instead, the firm is swapping out its usual quarterly tender offers in favor of direct payments—promising to return 30% of the fund’s net asset value to every investor inside a 45-day window.
Blue Owl, with assets under management topping $307 billion, announced it will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.225 per share on March 2.
Other big players in alternative credit—Apollo, Ares, Blackstone—have felt the squeeze too. They’re moving with the mood swings in retail flows and the way private loans are marked, as this episode ripples through the space.
U.S. stock futures edged up early Wednesday, with Nvidia’s earnings looming as the main event. Investors are on alert—those results could ripple through financials and even private-credit names when the market opens.
Everything now hinges on Blue Owl’s execution—delivering returns to investors while steering clear of setting off alarm bells about loan valuations, credit risks, or withdrawal speeds. If defaults pick up sharply, or if retail inflows dry up further, the stock could face renewed pressure.
Investors are eyeing updates on when payouts might land under the revised redemption plan, along with news on the March 2 dividend. The dividend follows a Feb. 20 record date, according to a filing.
