Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s (MSDL) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 price objective on the stock.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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 Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSDL stock opened at $19.99 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $19.28 and a 1 year high of $24.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. The company had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.02 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is 82.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares in the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter worth about $68,000. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $84,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $103,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 515.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 5,671 shares in the last quarter.

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.