Brokerages Set Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) PT at $21.42

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

Several brokerages recently commented on MSDL. UBS Group lowered Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE MSDL opened at $20.70 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $20.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.68.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. The business had revenue of $104.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cliffwater LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,035,000. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth approximately $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 12,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Company Profile

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is a business development company. It is a non-diversified, externally managed specialty finance company focused on lending to middle-market companies. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is based in NEW YORK.