Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.42.

A number of brokerages have commented on MSDL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on 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. UBS Group downgraded Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Down 0.4 %

MSDL stock opened at $19.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion and a PE ratio of 6.43. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $19.05 and a 52 week high of $24.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.03 and a 200 day moving average of $20.69.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The business had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 60.60% and a return on equity of 12.57%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at $377,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,898,000 after acquiring an additional 250,167 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 12,076 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at about $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.