Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target Lowered to $20.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $21.00 to $20.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 2.46% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James lowered shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.75.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL opened at $19.52 on Friday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $19.05 and a 1 year high of $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $22.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 billion and a PE ratio of 6.30.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.65 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $646,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $32,973,000.

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.