Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.42 Average PT from Analysts

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at $223,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter worth about $377,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MSDL opened at $20.02 on Friday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a PE ratio of 6.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $19.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 60.60% and a return on equity of 12.57%. The firm had revenue of $104.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.34%.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

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.